A  SURVEY 

OF  THE  CITY  SCHOOLS 

OF 

GRAND  JUNCTION 
COLORADO 


DISTRICT  No.  1 
MESA  COUNTY 


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MAY  -  1916 


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A  Survey 

of  the  City  Schools 

OF 

Grand  Jimdtion,  Colorado 

Di&rid  No.  1,  Mesa  County 


Survey  Committee 


FRANK  L.  CLAPP Director  of  the  Survey 

Assistant  Professor  of  Education,  University  of  Colorado 

and  Superintendent  of  Extension  Work  for 

Western  Colorado 

WILLIAM  A.  COOK 

Assistant  Professor  of  Education,  University  of  Colorado 
and  High  School  Visitor  for  the  University 

SAMUEL  QUIGLEY 

Dean  of  the  Colorado  State  Normal  School 

BEN  GRIFFITH     .        .        .        Chairman  of  the  Survey  Committee 
HARRY  B.  JONES  T.  M.  TODD 


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The  Daily  -^^^>  News  Pqess 


FOREWORD 

This  study,  while  officially  addressed  to  the  Board  of 
School  Directors,  is  presented  to  the  patrons  and  friends  of 
the  schools  of  Grand  Junction  with  the  hope  that  it  may  result 
in  better  schools.  While  the  Survey  Committee  has  not  been 
unmindful  of  the  immediate  occasion  of  its  work  as  indicated 
in  the  Introduction  which  follows,  yet  it  has  ventured  to  keep  in 
mind  and  to  discuss  in  a  brief  way  some  of  the  more  general 
problems  of  school  organization  and  control  as  they  confront 
the  people  of  any  community.  A  common  understanding  of 
some  of  the  fundamental  principles  underlying  public  education 
on  the  part  of  everyone  concerned  should  make  easier  and  more 
pleasant  the  complex  and  difficult  task  of  organizing  and 
administering  an  efficient  and  economical  system  of  schools 
adapted  to  the  needs  of  the  community. 

THE  BOARD  OF  DIRECTORS. 
THE  SURVEY  COMMITTEE. 


402921 


LETTER  OF  TRANSMISSAL 

To  the  Board  of  Directors  of  School  District  No.  1, 
Mesa  County,  Colorado. 

Gentlemen : 

The  Committee  recently  chosen  by  you  to  make  a  survey  of 
the  schools  of  District  No.  1  beg  leave  to  submit  the  following 
report. 

May  we  take  this  opportunity  to  express  our  appreciation 
of  the  uniform  courtesy  and  cooperation  accorded  to  us  by  every- 
one with  whom  we  had  occasion  to  work  in  the  collection  of  data 
and  the  preparation  of  our  conclusions. 

We  trust  that  our  efforts  may  result  in  the  betterment  of 
the  schools  of  Grand  Junction : 

Lay  members 

BEN  GRIFFITH,  Chairman 
H.  B.  JONES 
T.  M.  TODD 

Professional  members 

FRANK  L.  CLAPP,  Director 
WILLIAM  A.  COOK 
SAMUEL  QUIGLEY 


INTRODUCTION 

Early  in  February  the  Director  of  this  Survey  was  invited 
by  the  Board  of  Directors  of  School  District  No.  1  to  appear 
at  its  next  regular  meeting  and  to  discuss  the  general  purpose 
and  character  of  school  surveys.  A  similar  invitation  was 
received  later  from  the  Board  of  Directors  of  the  Grand  Junction 
Chamber  of  Commerce.  The  latter  body  attended  the  meeting 
of  the  School  Board  and  the  subject  was  canvassed  somewhat 
thoroughly. 

On  March  4  the  School  Board  adopted  the  following 
resolution : 

"Whereas,  a  petition  signed  by  jrnany  representative 
citizens  has  been  filed  with  this  Board  requesting  that  this 
Board  have  a  survey  of  our  school  system  made,  and 

Whereas,  there  seems  to  be  a  general  demand  for  such 
survey  and  as  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  has  agreed  to 
defray  the  expenses  of  such  survey  in  excess  of  One  Hundred 
and  Fifty  Dollars, 

THEREFORE,  BE  IT  RESOLVED,  that  it  be  the 
sense  of  this  School  Board  that  a  financial  and  educational 
survey  of  the  school  system  of  School  District  No.  1,  Mesa 
County,  Colorado,  be  made  by  a  committee  of  six  men 
consisting  of  the  following:  Dr.  Frank  L.  Clapp  and  Dr. 
William  A.  Cook  of  the  University  of  Colorado,  Dean 
Samuel  Quigley  of  the  Colorado  State  Normal  School  at 
Gunnison,  Ben  Griffith,  Harry  B.  Jones  and  T.  M.  Todd 
of  Grand  Junction,  Colorado,  and  any  member  of  the  school 
board  may  be  a  member  ex-officio  of  this  Committee,  and 
that  this  School  District  cooperate  with  the  Chamber  of 
Commerce  by  paying  One  Hundred  and  Fifty  Dollars 
($150.)  toward  defraying  the  expenses  of  such  survey, 
provided  this  School  Board  be  furnished  a  complete  type- 
written report  of  the  survey." 

The  immediate  occasion  for  the  survey  was  a  demand  on  the 
part  of  the  people  for  a  reduction  in  the  public  expenses  and 
the  desire  on  the  part  of  the  Board  of  Directors  to  meet  this 
request  without  crippling  the  schools. 

While  the  professional  members  of  the  Committee  have 
been  responsible  for  the  major  portion  of  the  study,  the  six 
members  have  worked  as  one  body.  Detailed  plans  for  the 
work  were  discussed  and  agreed  upon  by  the  entire  Committee 
before  being  put  into  operation.  Each  of  the  three  professional 
members  was  primarily  responsible  for  certain  phases  of  the 
work  but  consultations  were  held  daily  and  the  work  of  each 
one  was  reviewed.  The  lay  members  were  in  constant  touch  with 
the  professional  members  and  their  advice  and  suggestions  were 


acted  ui>oii  whenever  ijiv  the  judgment  of  the  entire  Committee 
such  course  seemed  best.  The  report  represents,  with  a  few 
minor  exceptions,  the  unanimous  judgment  of  the  six  members 
of  the  Committee. 

The  professional  members  put  in  on  the  ground  a  total  of 
ten  days  each.  The  time  spent  by  the  lay  members  cannot  be 
accurately  estimated  but,  as  stated  above,  they  were  in  constant 
touch  with  the  work  at  all  times  and  some  one  or  more  of  them 
visited  each  of  the  buildings  and  many  of  the  classes. 

On  the  afternoon  of  the  first  day  of  the  work  a  meeting 
was  held  with  the  Superintendent,  the  School  Board  and  the 
teachers  at  which  the  general  purpose  and  plans  of  the 
Committee  were  explained.  Later  another  meeting  was  held 
with  the  Board  at  which  many  problems  of  the  schools  were 
discussed  informally. 

The  following  letter  was  issued  to  the  public  when  the 
Committee  began  its  work: 

"To  facilitate  the  work  which  the  Committee  hopes  to 
do  an  opportunity  will  be  given  to  any  person  to  bring  to 
the  attention  of  the  Committee  such  matters  of  general 
criticism  or  constructive  suggestion  as  should  receive 
consideration.  In  order  that  time  may  not  be  wasted  by 
either  those  desiring  a  hearing  or  by  the  Committee,  it  is 
requested  that  any  one  who  wishes  to  appear  state  in  writing 
the  general  character  of  the  matter  to  be  presented.  Upon 
receipt  of  such  communications  the  Committee  will  arrange 
a  time  and  place  for  each  hearing.  All  communications 
will  be  confidential,  and  all  hearings  private.  Communi- 
cations should  be  addressed  to 

"FRANK  L.  CLAPP, 
Director  of  the  Survey." 

No  one  appeared  before  the  Committee  in  response  to  this 
invitation. 

in  the  beginning  of  the  work  twenty  Colorado  towns  were 
selected  for  purposes  of  comparison  and  blanks  were  sent  to  the 
superintendents  asking  for  information.  Not  all  of  these  were 
able  to  reply  so  that  some  of  the  comparative  tables  are  not  full, 
and  no  one  of  them  contains  more  than  eighteen  schools. 

The  members  of  the  Committee  received  no  compensation 
except  their  actual  expenses.  The  total  expense  of  the  study  in- 
cluding the  printing  of  500  copies  of  the  report  was  $167.54.  Of 
this  amount  $150.00  was  paid  by  the  Board  of  School  Directors 
and  $17.54  by  the  Chamber  of  Commerce. 


(9) 


CHAPTER  I. 
ORGANIZATION  AND  CONTROL 

Location 

School  District  No.  1  embraces  the  civic  corporation  of 
Grand  Junction,  with  a  population  of  about  8,000,  and  outlying 
territory  to  the  extent  of  about  144  square  miles,  the  total  area 
of  the  district  being  147  square  miles. 

Grand  Junction  is  the  point  at  which  two  branches  of  the 
Denver  and  Rio  Grande  railroad  meet.  It  is  the  largest  town  in 
Western  Colorado,  and  is  an  important  trading  and  shipping 
center.  The  dominant  industry  in  the  immediate  vicinity  is 
fruit  raising,  this  being  the  name  of  the  famous  Grand  Valley 
fruit. 

Census,  Enrollment,  and  Buildings 

The  school  census  for  February,  1916,  was  2,007.  The  total 
enrollment  for  the  school  year  1915-16  up  to  May  1,  was  1926. 

TABLE    NO.   1. 

Showing    Number    and    Location     of     Buildings, — Grades      Accommodated     and 
Number  of   Teachers   in   Each. 

Building  Number 

*  Location  Grades  of  Teachers 

Bryant    ..S.W 1,2 2 

Riverside    S.W 3,4,5    1 

Emerson    S.E 1,2,3,4,5,6 10 

Hawthorne    N.W .1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 8 

Lowell    Gen. 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,   Kindergarten    16 

Franklin    Cen 7,8,9    8 

High    _!_ N.E , 10,11,12 , 8 

Whittier    Gen Commercial,    Domestic    Science, 

Special  Supervisors   5 

Total 58 

*Part  of  city 

Divisions  of  the  School 

The  School  system  consists  of  the  Kindergarten  department, 
the  Elementary  schools  and  the  High  school.  The  Elementary 
schools  do  eight  years  of  work,  and  the  High  School  is  of  the 
conventional  four-year  type.  Children  are  admitted  to  the 
Kindergarten  at  the  age  of  five,  and  to  the  first  grade  at  the 
age  of  six,  their  ages  being  reckoned  as  of  December  1  following 
admission.  Instruction  and  promotion  is  by  grade  in  the  Elemen- 
tary school  but  by  subject  in  the  High  School. 

Pupils  coming  from  other  schools  and  applying  for  admis- 
sion to  the  grades  of  the  Grand  Junction  schools,  are  given  an 
oral  examination  by  the  Superintendent,  and  assigned  to  par- 
ticular grades  on  the  basis  of  this  examination.  Corresponding 
examinations  are  not  usually  given  to  those  coming  from  other 
high  schools  with  proper  credentials. 


(10) 
Retardation  and  Acceleration  (Age  Standard) 

Retardation  and  acceleration  measured  according  to  the  age 
standard  have  to  do  with  the  age  of  the  pupil  in  relation  to  his 
grade.  Since  a  pupil  enters  the  first  grade  ordinarily  at  the 
age  of  six,  he  is  known  as  an  accelerated  pupil,  or  as  a  pupil  who 
is  young  for  his  grade,  if  he  is  in  the  first  grade  and  under  six 
years  of  age.  Since  many  children  do  not  enter  the  first  grade 
until  they  are  seven,  and  consequently  do  not  finish  the  grade 
until  they  are  eight,  they  are  not  classed  as  retarded  pupils  until 
they  are  past  eight  years  of  age  and  still  in  the  first  grade. 
Pupils  between  the  ages  of  six  and  eight  are  known  as  normal 
pupils.  Corresponding  age  limits  have  been  established  for  each 
of  the  other  grades.  The  following  table  will  make  clear  the 
basis  on  which  pupils  in  the  Elementary  schools  are  classified  as 
accelerated,  normal,  or  retarded  pupils  according  to  the  age 
standard. 

TABLE  NO.  2. 

The  basis  for  classifying  Pupils  as  Accelerated,  Normal,  and 
Retarded. 

(Age  Standard) 

Grade                    Accelerated  Normal  Retarded 

(Under)  (Between)  (Over) 

Age  Ages  Age 

1 6  6-8  8 

2 7  7-9  9 

3 8  8-10  10 

4 9  9-11  11 

5 10  10-12  12 

6 11  11-13  .        13 

7 12  12-14  14 

8...                          ..13  13-15  15 


TABLE   NO.  3. 

Snowing  the  number  and  ages  of  the  Accelerated,  Normal  and  Retarded  pupils 

in  each  grade. 
(Age  Standard) 
Grades 

12345678 
Ages  —      —      —       —      —      —      —       — 

5-6  3 

6-  7          141        14 

7-  8  36       98       14 

8-  9  15        38        67        10 

9-10  2       20       48       78         7 

10-11  1         8       42       36       48         8 

}£g  1        I       tt       H       50*       2?        9/     76  Accelerated,  6  per  cent 

£S  2       1       *64       i3?  2299  33}  ™  Normal,   68   per    cent. 

15-16  1         4         5  22  23 1 

{£}*  \  \  *t>  34°  Retarded,  26  per  cent 

18-19  2) 

Total         198      182      184      175     155      156     119     121   1290 


(11) 

In  the  above  table  the  pupils  indicated  in  black-faced  type 
are  normal  pupils,  those  indicated  by  the  numbers  above  the 
black-faced  figures  are  accelerated  pupils,  and  those  below  are 
retarded  pupils. 

There  are  two  conditions  indicated  in  the  above  table  with 
which  we  should  be  concerned,  viz.,  the  wide  spread  of  ages 
among  the  pupils  in  each  grade  and  the  large  number  of  retarded 
pupils.  It  will  be  noticed  that  in  each  grade  there  is  a  spread  of 
age  of  five  or  six  years,  the  first  grade  for  instance  containing 
three  pupils  under  six  years  of  age  and  one  over  ten.  The  dis- 
advantage of  this  condition  is  to  be  found  in  the  fact  that  the 
teacher  of  each  grade  has  under  her  instruction  pupils  whose 
interests  are  greatly  different.  She  is  handicapped  by  the  fact 
that  she  must  use  different  methods  with  the  younger  and  the 
older  pupils.  The  retarded  pupils,  as  explained  above,  are  those 
who  are  old  for  their  grade.  .These  pupils  tend  to  drop  out  of 
school  before  they  finish  the  common  school  course.  In  addition 
to  this  they  do  not  get  ready  for  the  active  work  of  life  so  early 
as  children  may.  These  facts  demand  that  a  school  system  be  so 
conducted  as  to  prevent  the  presence  of  over-aged  pupils  so  far  as 
possible.  It  is  very  evident  that  these  conditions  are  not  alto- 
gether the  fault  of  the  school  itself.  A  school  cannot  put  pupils 
through  the  grades  on  schedule  unless  they  enter  school  at  the 
p roper  tim^e  and  attend  regularly.  A  large  percentage  of  retard- 
at'on  should  receive  the  very  serious  attention  of  both  the  school 
people  and  the  parents  in  a  community. 

The  following  table  shows  how  Grand  Junction  schools 
compare  with  certain  other  Colorado  schools  in  the  matter  of 
retardation : 

TABLE  NO.  4. 

Showing  the  percentage  of  retarded  pupils  in  thirteen  schools 
in   Colorado 

Percentage  of 
Towns  Retardation 

Cripple  Creek  13 

Boulder 14 

Glenwood  Springs   17 

WaJsenburg    18 

Colorado  City 19 

Leadvilie    - 19 

Delta 21 

Salida 21 

Montrose  23 

Errand  Junction   26 

Rocky  Ford  26 

Fort  Collins  28 

Longmont 32 

The  above  percentages  are  based  upon  the  number  of  pupils 
who  belonged  to  school  during  the  week  beginning  April  17,  1916, 
and  their  ages  are  taken  as  of  their  last  birthday  preceding  the 
opening  of  school  in  September,  1915.  These  percentages  must 
not  be  compared  with  percentages  of  retardation  found  in  other 
survey  reports  since  such  percentages  are  as  a  rule  computed  on 


(12) 

the  basis  of  the  number  of  pupils  who  belong  to  school  at  the  end 
of  the  year  and  their  ages  are  taken  as  of  June  1.  This  latter 
method  will  increase  materially  the  percentage  of  retardation, 
hence  we  wish  to  repeat  that  the  above  percentages  are  com- 
parable only  with  each  other. 

Grade  Repetition 

In  any  school  system  there  are  certain  pupils  who  for 
various  reasons  do  not  succeed  in  making  one  grade  per  year 
during  their  actual  school  life.  They  may  be  called  "repeaters." 
Any  school  should  avoid  the  presence  of  repeaters  in  so  far  as  it  is 
at  all  possible.  Not  only  does  the  repetition  of  a  grade  discourage 
arid  retard  a  child,  but  the  total  money  co?t  to  the  district  of  the 
children  who  repeat  is  considerable. 

Among  the  1290  pupils  who  belonged  to  the  schools  of  Grand 
Junction  during  the  week  beginning  April  17,  832  or  65  per  cent 
had  at  some  time  repeated  one  or  more  grades.  These  832  pupils 
may  be  divided  into  two  classes  as  follows, — 126  who  had  repeated 
in  other  schools,  and  606  who  had  repeated  in  the  schools  of 
Grand  Junction.  It  will  be  noted  that  practically  50  per  cent  of 
the  1290  pupils  had  repeated  one  or  more  grades  in  Grand  Junc- 
tion. These  606  pupils  in  turn  may  be  divided  into  two  classes  as 
follows, — those  who  failed  in  their  work,  and  those  who  were 
put  back  when  they  came  from  some  other  school.  Those  who 
failed  numbered  428,  or  71  per  cent  of  the  total  number  repeating 
in  Grand  Junction,  while  those  who  were  put  back  when  they 
came  numbered  178,  or  29  per  cent.  To  be  sure  some  of  these 
pupils  came  from  schools  where  the  distinction  between  grades  is 
not  marked  and  perhaps  it  is  not  exactly  correct  to  say  that  they 
were  put  back. 

The  number  and  percentage  of  "repeaters"  in  the  schools 
seem  excessive.  A  school  having  a  large  percentage  of  repeaters 
may  defend  itself  on  the  ground  that  its  course  of  study  is  more 
extensive  than  that  of  other  schools  or  that  the  quality  of  work 
done  is  superior.  A  careful  comparison  of  the  course  of  study  in 
the  schools  of  Grand  Junction  does  not  indicate  that  the  work 
required  is  more  extensive  than  that  in  other  schools.  So  far 
as  the  standard  tests  described  in  Chapter  III.  reveal  the  quality 
of  work  done  in  the  schools,  it  cannot  be  said  that  this  is  superior. 

The  Batavian  System 

In  order  to  prevent  pupils  from  failing  and  being  compelled 
to  repeat  their  grade  the  Lowell  and  Emerson  schools  are  each 
provided  with  a  Batavian  teacher  to  whom  pupils  are  sent  for 
special  assistance.  Since  these  two  schools  are  provided  with 
such  teachers  and  the  Hawthorne  school  is  not  a  comparison  of 
the  repetitions  in  these  buildings  on  a  percentage  basis  ought  to 
reveal  the  efficiency  of  the  Batavian  system.  Reference  to  Table 
No.  1,  p.  9,  will  indicate  that  these  three  schools  are  the  only 
ones  which  would  be  comparable  since  they  are  the  only  ones  that 


(13) 

maintain  a  majority  of  the  eight  grades.  The  social  and  economic 
differences  among  these  three  communities  which  cause  differ- 
ences in  regularity  of  attendance,  etc.,  may  account  in  part  for 
the  different  showing. 

TABLE   NO.  5. 

Showing    Percentages    of   Failures   in     Batavian     and     Non- 
Batavian  Schools  for  Years  1914  and  1915. 

Batavian  Non-Batavian 
Emerson              Lowell  Hawthorne 

1914-15.... 7  6  10 

1915-16* 8  9.5  7 

Average.... 7.5  7.8  8.5 

'Failures  for  this  year  approximated  by  the  teachers. 

An  analysis  of  the  above  percentages  would  reveal  that  the 
present  Batavian  system  is  not  markedly  efficient.  The  largest 
percentage  of  failures  is  to  be  found  in  the  Hawthorne  school  at 
the  end  of  the  year  1914-15,  but  the  Lowell  school  is  only  .5  of  one 
per  cent,  behind  in  1915-16.  The  averages  reveal  only  one  per- 
centage of  difference  between  the  lowest  and  highest.  The 
efficiency  of  the  system  would  be  more  fairly  indicated  by  figures 
covering  several  years  but  records  giving  this  information  are 
not  kept. 

Recommendations 

The  entrance  examinations  now  given  by  the  Superintendent 
to  pupils  applying  for  admission  to  the  grades  should  be  discon- 
tinued. The  demotion  of  pupils  as  pointed  out  on  page  6  is 
responsible  for  29  per  cent,  of  the  repeaters  found  in  the  schools. 
The  Superintendent  informs  the  Committee  that  when  a  pupil  is 
assigned  to  a  grade  on  the  basis  of  this  examination  that  he  is 
later  promoted  if  the  quality  of  his  work  indicates  that  he  can  do 
the  work  of  the  next  grade.  This  is  not  likely  to  be  the  case,  how- 
ever because  of  the  fact  that  new  text  books  are  placed  in  the 
hands  of  new  pupils  and  they  find  plenty  of  totally  new  material 
with  which  to  busy  themselves.  Consequently  their  acquaintance 
with  the  fundamentals  is  not  at  once  evident.  Added  to  this  is  the 
fact  that  many  teachers  are  not  inclined  to  recommend  the  promo- 
tion of  particularly  good  pupils  since  such  promotion  deprives 
their  rooms  of  the  presence  and  stimulus  of  these  children. 

As  a  substitute  for  the  present  Batavian  system  it  is  the 
judgment  of  the  Committee  that  there  should  be  established  at  the 
Lowell  school  an  ungraded  room,  to  which  would  be  assigned 
such  pupils  as,  in  the  judgment  of  the  Superintendent  and  the 
different  principals  and  teachers,  cannot  do  the  work  of  the  grade 
to  which  they  belong  with  the  rest  of  the  class,  and  also  those 
pupils  who  for  a  time  at  least  can  make  more  rapid  progress  than 
their  fellows.  To  this  room  also  may  be  assigned  those  pupils 
who  enter  from  other  schools  and  whose  knowledge  of  funda- 
mentals does  not  enable  them  to  "fit"  into  any  one  grade.  These 
pupils  should  remain  in  this  room  until  they  are  ready  to  take  up 


(14) 

the  work  in  a  regular  manner  with  some  grade.  This  room  should 
be  under  the  tuition  of  one  of  the  strongest  teachers  it  is  possible 
to  obtain.  Pupils  should  not  be  assigned  to  the  ungraded  room 
until  the  regular  classroom  teacher  has  made  special  efforts  to 
keep  them  with  the  remainder  of  the  class.  When  any  pupil  is 
assigned  to  this  room,  whether  because  of  slow  or  rapid  progress, 
his  case  should  be  talked  over  with  his  parents,  the  purpose  of  his 
being  placed  there  made  clear,  and  the  cooperation  of  the  parents 
secured  if  possible. 

In  order  to  prevent  repetition  in  the  upper  grades  and  to 
encourage  pupils  to  remain  in  school  the  Committee  recommends 
the  organization  of  an  Intermediate  school.  This  school  should 
embrace  the  work  of  what  is  now  the  Seventh,  Eighth  and  Ninth 
grades  and  should  be  housed  in  the  Franklin  building. 
Reference  to  Table  No.  1,  page  1,  will  reveal  the  fact  that  prac- 
tically all  of  the  Seventh-,  Eighth-,  and  Ninth-grade  pupils  are 
already  housed  in  the  Franklin  building.  The  new  plan  would 
mean  the  transfer  of  a  very  few  pupils  from  the  Hawthorne  and 
Lowell  buildings.  This  would  not  be  serious  since  the  former 
building  is  only  six  blocks  from  the  home  of  the  proposed  Inter- 
mediate school  while  the  Lowell  building  is  on  the  same  block. 

The  program  of  studies  in  this  school  should  be  in  part 
optional  so  that  a  pupil  could  take  four,  five  or  six  subjects,  ac- 
cording to  his  ability,  strength  and  outside  duties  permit.  To 
a  certain  extent  he  should  also  be  allowed  to  select  his  work  in 
line  with  his  particular  interests.  The  selection  of  studies  should 
be  under  the  supervision  of  the  Principal  of  the  school,  and  in  con- 
sultation with  the  parents  and  those  teachers  who  are  intimately 
acquainted  with  the  child.  The  instruction  should  be  depart- 
mental and  promotions  should  be  by  subjects. 

The  pupils  in  this  school  should  be  seated  permanently  in 
certain  rooms  presided  over  by  one  of  the  denartmental  teachers 
who  should  be  responsible  for  the  general  welfare  of  the  pupils  in 
her  room  in  much  the  same  way  as  is  the  teacher  of  the  seventh 
or  eighth  grade  under  the  present  system.  The  Principal  of  the 
school  should  teach  no  more  than  three  periods  a  day,  in  the 
afternoons,  the  remainder  of  the  time  being  devoted  to  super- 
vision. 

Grading  and  Examinations 

In  both  the  Elementary  and  High  Schools  examinations  are 
held  at  the  end  of  each  month.  Scholastic  marks  are  given 
in  letters  with  a  corresponding  significance  in  percentages. 
Three  days  are  set  aside  for  the  examination  in  the  High  School. 
Pupils  who  make  class  records  above  a  certain  standard  are 
exempt  from  examination.  An  average  of  75  per  cent,  in  all  sub- 
jects with  nothing  below  60  per  cent,  entitles  a  pupil  to  promotion. 

Recommendations 

Examinations  in  High  School  should  not  be  given  oftener 
than  every  six  weeks.  This  is  the  prevailing  practice.  The 


(15) 

present  system  means  that  twenty-seven  days  per  year  or  prac- 
tically one  and  one-half  months  are  devoted  to  examinations.  This 
does  not  include  the  time  devoted  to  finals. 

The  rule  permitting  the  pupil  who  makes  an  average  of  75 
per  cent,  to  pass  in  a  subject  in  which  his  mark  is  as  low  as  60  per 
cent,  should  be  changed  so  that  it  applies  only  to  required 
subjects. 

Very  careful  attention  should  be  given  by  the  Superintendent 
and  teachers  to  the  distribution  of  marks  among  the  different 
values.  Some  teachers  give  high  marks  while  others  grade  much 
more  closely.  A  study  of  the  marks  assigned  by  the  High  school 
teachers  at  the  end  of  March  reveals  the  fact  that  98  per  cent,  of 
one  teacher's  marks  were  among  the  upper  four  values  (A-f,  A, 
B-|-,  B)  and  only  2  per  cent,  among  the  lower  four  (C+,  C,  D+, 
D),  while  another  teacher  distributed  only  57  per  cent,  of  her 
marks  among  the  upper  four  values  and  43  per  cent,  among  the 
lower  four.  Similar  conditions  were  found  in  the  grades.  This 
is  not  fair  to  either  the  pupils  or  the  teachers. 

Sanitation 

Recent  progressive  school  legislation  says  that  the  ratio 
between  the  window  space  and  the  floor  space  of  the  school  room 
should  be  1  to  6.  Only  fourteen  out  of  fifty-three  rooms  reach  this 
standard.  In  many  cases  the  transoms  above  the  windows  have 
been  painted  over  with  dark  paint  and  in  one  room  the  upper 
half  of  each  window  had  been  darkened  with  the  same  material. 
All  shades  are  opaque.  In  spite  of  the  fact  that  the  lighting  space 
is  as  a  rule  inadequate,  when  all  of  the  rooms  were  visited  during 
one  afternoon,  eight  were  found  with  the  shades  drawn  so  as 
to  exclude  one-fourth  of  the  light;  eight  others  had  one-half  of 
the  light  excluded;  and  five  rooms  had  three-fourths  of  the 
window  space  covered  with  opaque  shades.  In  no  one  of  these 
rooms  was  there  any  possible  reason  why  shades  should  be  drawn. 
All  but  eight  out  of  fifty-three  rooms  violate  the  standard  that 
the  height  of  the  windows  shall  not  be  less  than  one-half  the 
width  of  the  room. 

A  rough  and  ready  judgment  of  the  adaptability  of  the  seats 
and  desks  to  the  pupils  who  were  seated  in  them  indicated  that 
one-tenth  of  the  pupils  were  improperly  seated.  Comparatively 
few  adjustable  desks  and  seats  were  found. 

Recommendations 

In  the  erection  of  buildings  in  the  future  most  careful  atten- 
tion should  be  given  to  their  lighting  and  the  very  low  standard 
indicated  above  should  not  be  violated. 

The  present  opaque  shades  should  be  replaced  at  once  with 
shades  that  are  translucent.  No  lighting  area  should  oe  made 
permanently  opaque  under  any  circumstances. 

None  but  adjustable  seats  and  desks  should  be  purchased  in 
the  future. 


(16) 

The  third  grade  room  at  the  Emerson  building  should  be 
remodeled  so  as  to  admit  more  light  from  the  sides  and  the 
present  skylight  should  be  removed. 

The  toilets  at  the  Emerson  building  should  be  equipped  with 
a  new  flushing  system  at  once.  This  antiquated  toilet  system 
as  well  as  that  of  the  Lowell  building  should  be  replaced  by 
modern  systems  as  soon  as  possible. 

The  Bryant  and  Riverside  buildings  should  be  replaced  by 
a  new  and  modern  building  as  soon  as  economic  conditions 
permit. 

Lay  Control 

According  to  the  school  law  of  the  state  the  District  is  of  the 
First  Class  having  a  school  population  of  more  than  one  thousand, 
the  actual  school  census  in  February,  1916  being  2007. 

Lay  control  of  the  schools  is  vested  in  a  Board  of  Directors 
of  five  members.  Two  of  these  are  elected  each  biennium  for 
a  term  of  six  years  with  the  exception  that  only  one  director  is 
elected  at  each  third  election.  Unexpected  vacancies  are  filled 
by  the  remaining  directors.  Very  rarely  does  a  member  serve 
more  than  one  term. 

It  is  to  the  advantage  of  any  institution  controlled  by  a  Board 
of  Directors  to  be  assured  that  at  no  time  shall  the  majority  of  the 
members  of  such  Board  be  made  up  of  new  and  inexperienced 
men.  Yet  this  often  happens  under  the  law  governing  first  class 
school  districts  in  Colorado  when  a  vacancy  occurs  by  death  or 
resignation  during  a  year  in  which  two  members  are  to  be  seated. 
The  law  should  be  so  changed  as  to  provide  for  a  five  year  term 
and  to  permit  only  one  new  member  to  take  his  seat  each  year,  the 
other  member  who  was  elected  at  the  same  time  using  the  time 
until  his  installation  in  becoming  acquainted  with  his  duties. 

The  following  table  will  make  this  plan  clear, — member  "A" 
being  replaced  by  member  "a"  and  so  on : 

Year  Elected  Seated            Learning  duties 

1915  A&B  A  B 

1916  no  election  B 

1917  G&D  G  D 

1918  no  election  D 

1919  E&a  E  a 

1920  no  election  a 

1921  b&c  b  c 

This  plan  avoids  the  expense  of  annual  elections  and  provides 
for  no  more  than  one  new  member  of  the  board  each  year,  except 
in  the  case  of  unexpected  vacancies. 

The  law  further  provides  that  the  officers  of  the  Board 
shall  be  a  President,  Secretary,  and  Treasurer.  The  Secretary 
and  Treasurer  may  or  may  not  be  members  of  the  Jtfoard.  In 
District  No.  1  the  Secretary  is  a  paid  employee  who  is  not  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Board,  and  the  Treasurer  is  also  an  outside  man,  but 
receives  no  salary. 


(17) 
Professional  Control 

The  professional  control  of  the  schools  of  Grand  Junction  is 
entrusted  to  a  Superintendent,  and  to  various  principals  and 
teachers.  The  Superintendent  is  the  head  of  the  system  and  is 
chosen  by  the  Board  of  Directors  for  such  term  as  they  may  see 
fit.  The  present  Superintendent  was  chosen  in  the  spring  of  1915 
for  a  term  of  three  years.  At  this  time  he  had  still  one  year  of  a 
three-year  term  to  serve  but  at  his  request  the  old  contract  was 
abrogated  and  a  new  one  made. 

A  three-year  term  for  the  Superintendent  is  quite  common  and 
desirable.  Generally  speaking  it  is  not  good  practice  for  the 
Board  to  reelect  a  Superintendent  before  the  expiration  of  his 
term.  This  permits  a  school  man  to  ask  for  reelection  at  aus- 
picious times  and  thus  to  perpetuate  his  administration. 

Relation  of  Lay  and  Professional  Control 

Educational  thinkers  agree  that  the  function  of  school  control 
may  be  divided  into  four  rather  distinct  phrases,  viz.,  legis- 
lative, administrative,  inspectorial,  and  supervisory*.  A  definition 
of  these  functions  and  a  discussion  of  their  division  between  the 
Board  and  Superintendent  should  contribute  to  efficient  and 
pleasant  working  relationships  between  the  two. 

The  legislative  function  has  to  do  with  questions  oi  general 
purpose,  policy,  and  finance.  It  does  not  concern  itself  with 
details.  It  requires  broad,  general  knowledge  ol  social  and 
economic  conditions.  It  does  not  require  special,  technical 
knowledge  of  ways  and  means.  It  determines,  for  instance, 
whether  the  school  shall  have  for  its  purpose  vocational  training, 
technical  instruction,  or  preparation  for  college.  It  does  not 
determine  whether  a  course  in  German  or  in  Spanish  shall  be  a 
part  of  the  college  preparatory  work.  It  decides  whether  $50,000 
or  $75,000  shall  be  expended  for  school  purposes.  It  does  not 
decide  whether  examination  paper  of  quality  A  or  quality  B  shall 
be  purchased.  It  rules  whether  or  not  pupils  in  general  shall  be 
required  to  take  physical  training.  It  does  not  concern  itself  with 
individual  pupils  who  may  claim  exemption  from  the  rule  on 
particular  grounds.  The  legislative  function  belongs  to  the  School 
Board. 

The  administrative  function  has  to  do  with  ways  and  means 
of  carrying  out  the  general  purposes  and  policies  of  the  Board. 
It  decides  what  shall  constitute  vocational  training  or  college  pre- 
paration; what  methods  of  instruction  shall  be  employed;  what 
quality  of  paper  is  best  suited  to  the  needs  of  the  school,  etc.  It  has 
to  do  with  the  internal  life  of  the  school ;  with  details  of  organiz- 
ation; with  examinations;  with  records,  reports,  etc.  It  requires 
special,  technical  knowledge.  The  administrative  function  belongs 
to  the  Superintendent  and  his  professional  assistants,  the  prin- 
cipals and  teachers^. 

The  inspectorial  function  has  to  do  with  determining  whether 
or  not  the  purposes  and  policies  of  the  school  are  being  carried 

'Elliott,  E.  C.,  City  School  Supervision,  PP.  7-13. 


(18) 

out,  and  with  questions  of  efficient  and  economical  organization 
and  control.  It  evaluates  the  results  of  the  work  of  the  school; 
it  measures  sanitary  conditions  and  studies  systems  of  financial 
management.  It  is  in  part  a  function  of  the  Superintendent  but 
in  LARGER  part  a  function  of  the  Board.  However  since  it 
requires  technical  knowledge  the  Board  itself  cannot  perform  this 
function  except  in  a  limited  way,  but  must  employ  specially 
trained  disinterested  assistance  for  its  share  of  this  work.  The 
present  survey  is  an  example  of  inspectorial  work  performed  by 
outside  parties  as  agents  of  the  Board.  This  kind  of  work  should 
be  done  frequently  and  in  a  broadly  constructive  manner. 

The  supervisory  function  has  to  do  with  questions  of  service 
rendered  by  assistants,  principally  classroom  teachers.  It 
requires  very  special  technical  knowledge.  It  is  not  critical  but 
helpful.  It  coordinates  and  harmonizes  the  work  of  tfie  different 
departments  and  teachers.  It  determines  the  tone  and  spirit  and 
standards  of  the  school.  It  sees  that  proper  working  facilities 
and  supplies  are  provided.  It  belongs  to  the  Superintendent  in  a 
general  way  but  in  a  system  such  as  that  of  Grand  Junction  there 
should  be  more  immediate  supervision  by  principals.  Super- 
v'sion  is  one  of  the  most  vitally  essential  phases  of  schooi  control. 

It  must  be  remembered  in  reading  the  above  somewhat  cate- 
gorical and  formal  discussion  of  the  general  relations  obtaining 
between  a  Board  and  its  Superintendent,  that  one  cannot  speak 
in  universally  inclusive  terms.  The  division  of  functions  as 
indicated  above  does  not  mean  that  the  Board  in  the  exercise  of 
its  functions,  or  the  Superintendent  in  the  exercise  of  his  duties 
should  proceed  with  no  reference  to  the  other  controlling  agency. 
It  does  mean  that  in  general  the  judgment  of  one  agency  or  the 
other  should  be  the  primary  determining  factor,  according  as  the 
matter  in  question  is  one  of  legislation,  or  administration, 
inspection  or  supervision.  For  instance,  in  the  selection  of 
teachers,  which  is  an  administrative  function,  the  responsibility 
is  upon  the  Superintendent  and  his  should  be  the  determining 
voice  but  he  should  not  select  a  teacher  of  whose  fitness  he  cannot 
convince  his  Board.  The  Board  on  the  other  hand  should  realize 
that  the  special,  technical  knowledge  of  the  Superintendent  should 
make  him  the  better  judge. 

Applications  of  the  Above  Principles  to 
the  Schools  of  Grand  Junction 

As  is  often  the  case  there  is  some  evidence  that  the  above 
principles  are  not  carefully  observed  in  Grand  Junction. 

The  Board  should  not  permit  the  time  of  its  meetings  to  be 
devoted  to  individual  cases  of  discipline,  except  in  very  rare 
instances.  This  responsibility  should  be  upon  the  Superintendent, 
and  he  should  not  bring  these  matters  to  the  Board  except  for 
advice. 

The  making  of  courses  of  study  should  be  in  the  hands  of 
the  Superintendent  and  his  professional  assistants. 

Teachers  should  be  elected  by  the  Board  only  after  nomin- 
ation by  the  Superintendent. 


(19) 

At  present  the  professional  people  connected  with  the  school 
have  very  little  to  do  with  the  purchase  or  distribution  of 
supplies  except  to  write  out  requisitions  for  what  is  needed.  (This 
is  not  true  of  text-books) .  Supplies  are  purchased  by  the  purchas- 
ing committee  of  the  Board,  and  distributed  by  its  Secretary.  This 
man  is  without  any  technical  training  or  experience  in  school 
matters,  yet  the  Superintendent  and  teachers  must  depend  on  his 
judgment  when  they  ask  for  an  allotment  of  supplies  such  as 
paper,  etc.  Numerous  instances  came  to  the  attention  of  the 
Survey  Committee  where  the  Secretary  had  refused  the  full 
amount  of  supplies  asked  for  by  teachers  at  least  until  after 
repeated  requests.  This  results  in  a  serious  handicap  of  the 
school  work.  The  general  supervision  of  the  selection  and  distri- 
bution of  these  supplies  should  be  in  the  hands  of  the  Superin- 
tendent. However,  the  purchasing  of  supplies  should  be  left  in  the 
hands  of  the  Board  as  at  present. 

In  general  the  teachers  should  not  bring  matters  to  the 
Board  except  through  the  Superintendent,  since  he  is  charged 
with  the  responsibility  for  the  schools  as  a  whole.  This  rule 
should  not  be  emphasized,  so  that  teachers  feel  that  they  will 
incur  the  censure  of  the  Board  or  Superintendent  if  they  speak 
to  the  Board  concerning  matters  of  vital  concern  to  them.  The 
privilege,  however,  should  not  be  abused  by  the  teachers  or  used 
without  due  appreciation  of  its  significance. 

Supervision  of  the  Schools 

The  Committee  was  impressed  with  the  fast  that  the  schools 
receive  very  little  supervision.  The  supervisory  function  is  per- 
formed altogether  by  the  Superintendent.  He  states  that  at  least 
one-half  of  his  time  is  taken  up  with  office  work  this  year  but 
not  so  much  in  former  years.  This  leaves  approximately  fifty 
hours  per  month  to  supervise  the  work  of  fifty-eight  teachers  in 
an  immediate  manner,  and  to  consult  with  them  regarding  the 
general  purposes  and  methods  of  their  work.  Teachers  report 
comparatively  few  and  brief  visits  from  the  superintendent. 

Another  evidence  of  an  absence  of  supervision  consists  in 
the  fact  that  teachers  of  the  same  grade  were  using  somewhat 
different  methods  which  left  their  pupils  at  the  end  of  the  year 
in  quite  different  conditions  for  the  work  of  the  next  grade.  For 
instance,  one  first-grade  teacher  uses  the  phonic  method  of  teach- 
ing reading  for  most  part  while  another  uses  the  word  method. 
At  the  beginning  of  the  present  year  a  second-grade  teacher 
received  pupils  from  both  of  these  rooms.  The  result  was  that  the 
second-grade  teacher  found  herself  handicapped  by  the  two 
differently  prepared  groups  of  pupils.  Supervision  should  not 
impose  upon  a  teacher  a  detailed  method,  but  it  should  so  co-ordin- 
ate methods  in  a  single  grade  that  the  product  will  be  or  a  some- 
what uniform  character.  Again  the  Committee  found  that  there 
was  a  lack  of  common  understanding  as  to  the  purposes  of  certain 
courses  on  the  part  of  the  Superintendent  and  those  who  were 
doing  the  instructing.  For  instance,  the  Superintendent  stated 


(20) 

that  the  purpose  of  a  certain  department  in  the  High  School  was 
to  prepare  the  pupils  to  do  practical  work.  One  of  the  teachers 
in  this  department  thought  the  work  was.  intended  to  give  the 
pupils  simply  a  general  training,  while  another  was  not  at  all  clear 
as  to  what  the  purpose  was.  Each  of  these  three  stated  that 
if  practical  efficiency  was  the  chief  purpose  the  character  and 
content  of  the  course  would  be  quite  different  from  what  they 
would  if  general  training  were  the  end  in  view.  No  consultations 
had  been  held  to  talk  over  this  matter.  Similar  conditions  were 
found  to  obtain  in  other  departments. 

It  is  only  fair  to  say  that  the  same  lack  of  understanding  of 
purposes  would  in  all  probability  be  found  in  most  schools.  The 
committee  does  not  wish  to  criticise  the  Superintendent  or  the 
teachers  in  any  department,  but  it  does  want  to  emphasize  the 
necessity  for  attention  to  this  very  important  phase  of  supervision. 

As  stated  above,  the  full  responsibility  for  the  supervision  of 
the  schools  is  at  present  on  the  Superintendent.  UDviously,  it 
is  impossible  for  him  to  do  this  work  as  it  should  be  done. 

The  Board  employs  a  "principal"  at  each  grade  building  who 
is  paid  from  $95  to  $145  a  year  for  acting  in  such  capacity, — that 
is  she  is  paid  this  sum  above  the  maximum  salary  allowed  grade 
teachers.  These  principals  teach  full  time.  Their  duties  as 
principals  are  chiefly  disciplinary. 

The  principal  of  the  High  School  and  the  principal  of  the 
ninth-grade  at  the  Franklin  building  bear  practically  the  same 
relation  to  their  schools  as  do  the  principals  in  the  grade  build- 
ings to  the  schools  maintained  therein,  that  is,  they  teach  full 
time  and  act  as  disciplinary  officials.  Yet,  the  principal  of  the 
High  School  receives  $1150  and  the  principal  of  the  ninth  grade 
$670  above  the  maximum  salary  allowed  high-school  teachers. 

The  Board  is  not  getting  from  these  two  men  the  services  for 
which  it  is  paying,  nor  the  services  which  they  are  capable  of 
Rendering.  Both  are  men  of  training  and  of  supervisory  exper- 
ience. 

Recommendations 

The  principal  of  the  High  School  should  be  relieved  of  at  least 
three-fifths  of  his  teaching  duties  and  be  given  the  direct  super- 
vision of  the  school.  He  should  have  a  voice  in  the  selection  of 
the  teachers;  he  should  be  primarily  responsible  for  the  courses 
of  study  and  for  the  schedule  of  recitations;  he  should  supervise 
the  instruction  of  the  teachers;  he  should  conduct  the  general 
exercises  of  the  school ;  he  should  be  the  central  influence  in  the 
social  life  of  the  school ;  he  should  supervise  all  athletic  activities 
and  relationships;  he  should  have  time  to  study  in  a  general 
and  local  way  the  problems  of  secondary  education,  and  should 
take  up  the  professional  study  of  educational  problems  with  his 
teachers  in  meetings  which  he  himself  conducts. 

The  principal  of  the  ninth  grade  should  be  made  the  principal 
of  the  Intermediate  School,  (p.  14)  and  should  sustain  the  same 
general  relations  to  it  that  the  principal  of  the  High  School  does 


(21) 

to  his  school  under  the  plan  indicated  above.  These  principals 
should  be  responsible  to  the  Superintendent  who  should  exercise 
only  a  general  supervisory  control  over  the  two  schools. 

This  would  leave  the  Superintendent  free  to  supervise  the 
work  of  the  first  six  grades,  where  the  larger  numbers  of  child- 
ren and  teachers  are  found  and  where  the  work  needs  closer 
coordination  and  assistance  and  more  expert  supervision.  He 
should  cut  down  his  present  office  work  and  be  in  close  touch  with 
the  work  of  these  grades  while  retaining  his  more  general  control 
over  the  Intermediate  and  High  schools. 


(22) 


CHAPTER  II. 
INSTRUCTION 

Testing  Results, — General 

One  purpose  of  instruction  in  the  elementary  grades  is  to 
give  the  children  mastery  of  the  fundamentals — spelling,  reading, 
writing,  and  arithmetic.  Fortunately  such  men  as  Ayres,  Thorn- 
dike,  Starch,  and  Courtis,  and  many  others,  have  devised  fairly 
well  perfected  objective  tests  for  measuring  the  achievements  of 
pupils  in  the  common  branches.  These  tests,  moreover,  have  been 
standardized  by  application  to  thousands  of  pupils,  the  country 
over,  so  that  it  is  now  possible  to  tell  approximately  how  much 
may  be  expected  of  the  normal  pupils  of  a  given  grade.  The 
standing  of  each  pupil,  each  class  and  the  entire  school  system 
can  be  found  and  compared  with  similar  items  in  other  school 
systems. 

In  Grand  Junction  the  Committee  gave  the  Ayres  spelling 
tests,  the  Starch  silent  reading  tests,  the  Courtis  arithmetic  tests, 
and  it  scored  the  penmanship  of  the  entire  school  system  using  the 
Ayres  scale. 

The  next  few  pages  contain  an  explanation  of  the  tests  as 
they  were  given  and  a  tabulation  of  the  results. 

Spelling, — Explanation 

Under  the  direction  of  Dr.  Leonard  P.  Ayres  of  the  Russell 
Sage  Foundation  a  very  long  list  of  common  words  was  given  to 
each  grade  of  over  seventy  school  systems,  with  the  purpose  of 
finding  out  what  words  in  the  list  were  spelled  correctly  by  100 
per  cent  of  each  grade,  95  per  cent,  90  per  cent  and  so  on  down  the 
scale.  In  this  way  it  was  possible  to  derive  lists  that  approxi- 
mately all  in  a  given  grade  could  spell  perfectly,  or  another  list 
upon  which  they  could  make  only  90  per  cent  or  85  per  cent,  etc. 

The  words  chosen  for  the  Grand  Junction  tests  were  those 
which  approximately  73  per  cent  of  each  grade  might  be  expected 
to  spell  correctly.  In  other  words,  if  the  grade  average  is  about 
73  per  cent,  the  grade  is  up  to  standard. 

The  words  of  each  grade  list  are  given  below.  The  same 
member  of  the  committee  crave  the  test  in  all  rooms;  conditions 
were  identical  and  favorable. 


(23) 


Sr^'—'as^  CJ*  O    CD    t"  CD    CD    D*  P3    O*  ^  O    P    *^    P~I>/K" 

Itpl^IIIP  Plflp 

*"3    P?  M    5^*         b—*  ^t»  ^*         ^ 


Grade 


SPELLING  SCORES  BY  GRADES. 
23456 


64     47  73  67  70  59     73 

44     67  45  62  66  60     72 

62     63  66  68  75  71     74 

55     85  61  65  73  63 

70  72  66  57 

49  69  70 

\verage  .  ...58.7    62.5  64  65.6  68.5  63    73 


5 


, 


1 


(25) 

Out  of  the  seven  grades  taking  the  spelling  test  one  reached 
the  standard.  The  average,  however,  does  not  reveal  anything. 
The  excessive  lack  of  uniformity  among  the  pupils  of  every  grade 
should  be  noted.  In  the  second  grade  four  pupils  made  100  per 
cent;  forty  other  pupils  exceeded  the  standard;  and  all  the  rest 
fell  below.  In  the  third  grade  two  pupils  wrote  a  perfect  test; 
fifty-six  others  exceeded  the  standard ;  but  thirty-nine  received  50 
or  below,  and  a  large  number  of  others  made  less  than  70.  Eight 
fifth  graders  spelled  every  word  correctly,  but  fifty  fell  short  of 
50  per  cent,  and  the  rest  of  the  class  were  unable  to  make  up  the 
deficiency.  The  sixth  grade  had  only  two  perfect  pupils ;  twenty- 
two  that  spelled  only  half  the  words  or  fewer;  and  thirty-seven 
others  that  did  not  attain  above  70  per  cent.  Four  seventh  grade 
pupils  made  a  perfect  score,  but  sixty-seven  spelled  but  half  the 
words  or  less.  Although  the  eighth  grade  had  only  three  perfect 
papers,  it  attained  the  standard  score  with  but  fifty-three  grades 
below  the  standard. 

Penmanship, — Explanation 

Beginning  with  the  third  grade  all  the  pupils  in  the  elemen- 
tary schools  were  requested  to  write  for  five  minutes,  repeating 
the  first  four  lines  of  "Mary  had  a  little  lamb."  This  familiar 
rhyme  was  chosen  so  that  it  would  not  be  necessary  for  the  pupils 
to  puzzle  over  what  they  were  writing.  The  specimens  were 
taken  without  any  coaching  whatsoever. 

The  Scale 

The  Ay  res  scale  was  employed  in  scoring  the  papers.  This 
scale  consists  of  a  chart  containing  twenty-four  specimens  of  pen- 
manship to  which  eight  scores,  from  20  to  90  per  cent,  have  been 
assigned.  There  are  three  types  of  penmanship  of  each  grade; 
for  example,  an  almost  vertical  hand  marked  30,  a  more  slanting 
type  marked  30,  and  a  still  more  slanting  type  marked  30.  The 
other  seven  ranks  are  composed  of  three  types  each  in  the  same 
way. 

These  specimens  have  been  chosen  and  ranked  by  the  co-oper- 
ation of  many  individuals  scoring  each  specimen  independently. 
Over  18,000  specimens  were  measured  in  developing  the  original 
scale,  and  they  were  taken  from  40  different  cities;  so  that  the 
scale  represents  a  consensus  of  opinion.  It  has  been  reprinted 
fifteen  times  and  employed  to  measure  the  penmanship  of  many 
thousands  of  pupils.  Thus  it  has  become  standardized  and  a  fair 
basis  of  comparison. 

The  Use  of  the  Scale 

The  method  of  using  the  scale  is  extremely  simple.  The 
examiner  takes  a  specimen  of  the  writing  submitted  by  the  pupil 
and  slides  it  along  the  chart  until  he  finds  a  specimen  of  corres- 
ponding kind  on  the  chart.  He  then  records  the  grade  of  the 
chart  specimen  as  that  of  the  pupil. 


(26) 
Scoring  the  Papers 

The  Grand  Junction  specimens  were  scored  with  great  care. 
From  five  to  ten  individuals  scored  each  specimen  and  recorded 
the  grade  without  knowing  what  grade  any  other  one  of  the 
scorers  would  give  the  same  specimen.  Later  all  grades  were 
collected,  and  if  in  any  case  a  disagreement  of  more  than  ten 
was  discovered,  the  paper  so  marked  was  taken  out  and  scored 
again  by  a  new  committee.  For  the  most  part  there  was  close 
agreement  in  the  estimates  of  the  original  scoring  committees, 
but  all  disputed  specimens  received  a  new  accounting. 

The  Standard 

Due  to  causes  which  it  is  not  possible  to  discuss  here,  there  is 
a  wide  variation  in  the  writing  of  pupils  of  the  same  grade.  Some 
eighth  grade  pupils  write  no  better  than  third  graders.  Occasion- 
ally a  pupil  in  one  of  the  lower  grades  will  write  as  well  as  the 
best  in  grade  eight.  But  in  general  there  is  a  consistent  pro- 
gression in  the  improvement  from  grade  to  grade. 

It  is  expected  that  pupils  of  the  upper  grades  should  attain 
an  average  of  about  50  per  cent  by  the  Ayres  scale. 

Results  of  Test 

Since  Grand  Junction  has  had  a  special  supervisor  of  pen- 
manship and  has  emphasized  the  subject  in  the  lower  grades, 
the  test  was  applied  to  grades  3  to  8  inclusive.  The  following  are 
the  averages: 

STANDING  OF  EACH  GRADE  IN  PENMANSHIP 

Grade 3 29 

Grade    ...A 35 

Grade    .5 43 

Grade    ^ 6 56 

Grade    7 55 

Grade 8 59 

Average  of  entire  school 44.5 

Average  of  four  upper  grades .53.2 

Reading, — Explanation 

The  Starch  test  for  silent  reading  was  employed  in  the  six 
upper  grades.  This  test  consists  of  descriptive  or  narrative  prose 
selections  of  graduated  difficulty,  a  different  selection  for  each 
grade.  The  selections  have  been  chosen  carefully  and  standard- 
ized by  application  to  thousands  of  pupils.  The  first  lines  follow : 

Grade  III. — Little  Abe  hurried  home  as  fast  as  his  feet  could 
carry  him.  Perhaps  if  he  had  worn  stockings  and  shoes  like  yours 
he  could  have  run  faster.  But,  instead,  he  wore  deerskin  leggings 
and  clumsy  moccasins  of  bear  skin  that  his  mother  had  made  for 
him. 

Grade  IV. — The  red  squirrel  usually  waked  me  in  the  dawn, 
running  over  the  roof  and  up  and  down  the  sides  of  the  house,  as 
if  sent  out  of  the  woods  for  this  very  purpose. 


(27) 

Grade  IV. — One  upon  a  time,  there  lived  a  very  rich  man,  and 
a  king  besides,  whose  name  was  Midas ;  and  he  had  a  little  daugh- 
ter, whom  nobody  but  myself  ever  heard  of,  and  whose  name  I 
either  never  knew,  or  have  entirely  forgotten. 

Grade  VI. — In  a  secluded  and  mountainous  part  of  Stiria 
there  was  in  old  times  a  valley  of  the  most  surprising  and  luxur- 
iant fertility.  It  was  surrounded  on  all  sides  by  steep  and  rocky 
mountains,  rising  into  peaks  which  were  always  covered  with 
snow,  and  from  which  a  number  of  torrents  descended  in  constant 
cataracts. 

Grade  VII. — Captain  John  Hull  was  the  mint-master  of  Mas- 
sachusetts, and  coined  all  the  money  that  was  made  there.  This 
was  a  new  line  of  business,  for  in  the  earlier  days  of  the  colony 
the  current  coinage  consisted  of  gold  and  silver  money  of  England, 
Portugal,  and  Spain. 

Grade  VIII. — The  years  w£nt  on,  and  Ernest  ceased  to  be  a 
boy.  He  had  grown  to  be  a  young  man  now.  He  attracted  little 
notice  from  the  other  inhabitants  of  the  valley;  for  they  saw 
nothing  remarkable  in  his  way  of  life,  save  that,  when  the  labor 
of  the  day  was  over  he  still  loved  to  go  apart  and  gaze  and  medi- 
tate upon  the  Great  Stone  Face. 

Method 

The  selections,  printed  on  one  side  of  unfolded  sheets,  are 
placed  face  downward  on  the  desks,  and  each  pupil  writes  his 
name  on  his  paper.  At  the  signal  the  papers  are  turned  printed 
side  up,  and  exactly  thirty  seconds  are  allowed  in  which  to  read. 
Care  is  taken  beforehand  to  make  clear  to  the  children  that  con- 
centration is  necessary  because  the  time  is  so  short.  Exactly  at 
the  expiration  of  the  time  the  pupils  are  told  to  stop  reading  and 
to  write  on  the  blank  sheet  as  much  of  the  story  as  possible. 

Scoring 

The  papers  are  scored  for  speed  and  comprehension.  Speed 
means  the  number  of  words  read  in  one  second,  and  compre- 
hension the  number  of  significant  words  used  in  the  reproduc- 
tion. In  estimating  this,  only  the  words  are  counted  that  give  the 
thought  of  the  selection  without  deviation  and  repetition.  The 
pupils  are  allowed  ample  time  for  the  reproduction. 

Results 

The  results  of  the  reading  test  are  disappointing  from  the 
standpoint  of  the  comparative  rank  of  Grand  Junction  pupils  in 
comprehension.  The  standings  of  the  several  grades  show  neither 
a  consistent  progression  of  attainment  from  grade  to  grade,  nor 
are  the  scores  attained  as  high  as  they  should  be. 

It  was  obvious  in  giving  this  test,  as  all  others,  that  child- 
ren of  the  same  grade,  but  different  rooms,  show  a  marked  vari- 
ation in  the  power  to  concentrate  and  respond  effectively  to  any 
requirement.  The  table  following  suggests  this  lack  of  uniformity 


(28) 

in  efficiency.  Speed  is  marked  "s"  and  comprehension  "c"  in  the 
table.  The  variations  in  the  third  grades  are  especially  notable, 
though  there  is  one  amazing  case  of  a  fourth  grade  that  is  out- 
classed by  all  others  in  the  system: 

Silent  Reading  Scores  by  Separate  Grades. 

34  5678 

sc           sc  sc  so  sc  sc 

1.5  28          2.1      9.3  2.3    36  2.0    29  2.4    33  3.1    35 

1.6  12    2.2  27  2.5  31  2.5  26  3.2  46  3.2  47 
1.8  20    2.2  24  2.8  25  2.8  25  3.5  43  3.7  37 
2.1  11    2.3  26  3.3  32  4.0  33  3.8  44 

2.1  23    2.8  24    3.6  32    4.3  19 
2.5  10    2.8  24    3.9  34    4.6  21 


G/  W/C3 


?r6  C/e6 


— —    Grand  Junction. 

•  ••••••  • .. —  Standard 

F/qure  .showincj  I1ie  relation  between  silent  ft  acting 
ftpc/e   ty  Grand  Junction  and    other  b laces 


(30) 
Arithmetic, — Explanation 

The  Courtis  Standard  Arithmetic  Tests,  Series  B,  were  given 
to  the  five  upper  grades.  These  tests  consist  of  exercises  in  addi- 
tion, subtraction,  multiplication  and  division.  They  do  not  involve 
fractions.  Specimen  problems  from  the  test  papers  are  given 
below : 


339 

>76 

m 

$61 
757 


136 
322 


799 
584 
125 
647 
699 
624 
512 
146 
109 


ADDITION 

952 
397 
525 


974 
458 
702 
397 


937 

274 


357 
925 
819 


489 
877 
482 
645 
761 
598 
352 
431 
367 


102142649 
70428369 


9237 
27 


SUBTRACTION. 

91889637        87168558 

78379474        28712470 


MULTIPLICATION. 

4568        6845        3297 
85         63         49 


78052979 
53180508 


7239 


DIVISION. 


74)66822 


38)10640 


95)88445 


The  same  problems  are  given  to  all  grades,  the  attainment 
depending  upon  the  speed  and  accuracy  with  which  the  work  is 
done,  not  upon  a  greater  relative  difficulty  in  the  problems  sub- 
mitted to  the  different  grades. 

Methods 

The  problems  are  printed  in  folders,  each  operation  on  a 
separate  page.  These  folders  are  distributed  but  not  opened 
until  the  signal  is  given.  Eight  minutes  each  are  allowed  for 
addition  and  division,  six  for  multiplication  and  four  for  sub- 
traction. All  necessary  directions,  including  the  advice  that  the 
pupils  should  work  straight  ahead  as  well  as  they  can,  are  given 
before  the  signal  so  that  there  can  be  no  misunderstanding  and 
no  interruption.  As  soon  as  the  time  is  up  for  one  operation,  the 
children  are  to  rest  at  attention  until  the  signal  is  given  to  pro- 
ceed with  the  next.  It  is  felt  that  the  conditions  were  all  favor- 
able to  the  best  work  of  the  pupils. 


The  Scoring 

The  papers  of  this  test  were  all  scored  under  the  direction 
of  the  Committee  and  all  computations  were  checked  for  accu- 
racy. In  considering  the  standards  that  should  be  used  for 


(31) 

comparison  the  Committee  decided  upon  the  actual  median  of 
June  scores  made  in  various  places  throughout  the  country  in 
1915  —  the  general  standard. 

The  Results 

The  tabulation  which  follows  shows  the  number  of  ex- 
amples attempted,  the  number  right,  and  the  percentage  of 
accuracy  for  each  grade.  The  general  standard  is  given  with 
all  these  for  comparison.  The  graphs  show  the  same  results  in 
a  different  manner. 

A  mere  glance  at  the  tabulation  and  graph  show  that  Grand 
Junction  falls  below  the  general  standard.  This  raises  questions 
as  to  whether  insufficient  time  is  given  to  drilling  in  the  funda- 
mentals, as  to  the  character  of  the  course  of  study,  the  quality 
of  the  teaching,  and  the  special  problems  or  conditions  peculiar 
to  Grand  Junction  that  may  account  for  the  shortcomings  of 
the  pupils  in  arithmetic.  Some  of  these  questions  are  considered 
in  other  connections  in  this  report: 


Attempts 


4.3 
5.2 

5.6 
6.2 

7.4 


5.9 
6.3 
8.4 
9.2 
10.2 


ADDITION 

Rights 


1.6 
2.1 
2.8 
3.4 
4.1 


3.2 
3.6 
5.4 
6.3 
7.1 


Percentage  of 
Accuracy 

O  99 

£  P 

I        I 


40 
40 
51 
55 
56 


54 
57 
64 

68 
70 


Attempts 


SUBTRACTION 

Rights 


CD 


Percentage  of 
Accuracy 


5.7 
6.5 
7.8 
9.1 
10.6 


6.2 

7.8 

9.2 

10.7 

<2.3 


3.4 
3.2 
4.9 
7.3 

8.4 


3.5 

5.6 

7.3 

8.9 

10.3 


62 
51 
63 

82 
79 


58 
72 

80 

84 
84 


Attempts 


(32) 

MULTIPLICATION 
Rights 


4.3 
5.2 
5.1 

8.2 
9.5 


5.0 

6.2 

7.9 

9.0 

10.7 


2.2 
2.7 
3.3 
5.2 

6.9 


3.5 

4.0 
5.8 
7.6 
8.5 


Percentage  of 
Accuracy 


52 
52 

65 
63 

72 


57 

66 
74 
76 
80 


DIVISION 


Attempts 

!      I 


Rights 


i 

0 

cs 

H-« 

0 

o* 

o' 

0 

a 

3.2 

3.6 

1.3 

1.5 

41 

>              3.2 

5.4 

2.1 

3.7 

64 

3.4 

7.1 

2.1 

5.7 

61 

7.2 

8.1 

5.9 

6.7 

82 

8.6 

10.6 

7.5 

9.3 

88 

Percentage  of 
Accuracy 

o  92 

I    I 


42 
69 
80 
83 


'dlfl 


3/7. 


"Off 


a 


hfr 


7C/J 


on. 


Grade?         4  5          6          7  T 

Results  of  Arithmetic  Tesfs 

fled  ion  -number  of  comet  answers^fy  grades,  torn  kofed  with 
standard  scores 


Crand^  Junction. 
Standard 


l/ca 


toff. 


Grade?     4 


67* 

Grand  Junction. 
Standard 


(35) 
The  Curriculm, — Explanation 

It  is  the  plan  of  this  portion  of  the  report  to  discuss  the 
curriculum  in  the  face  of  the  evidence  afforded  by  the  objective 
tests  just  described.  But  in  Grand  Junction,  as  everywhere, 
there  are  peculiar  problems  that  demand  a  pause  before  any 
sweeping  conclusions  are  drawn.  For  example,  how  much  are 
late  entrance  and  the  inevitable  complications  that  result  there- 
iTom  to  blame  for  Grand  Junction's  failure  to  score  to  standard? 
Whatever  is  said  about  the  curriculum  or  the  quality  of  teaching 
must  certainly  take  account  of  the  transient  and  irregular  school 
population. 

Of  482  new  students  entering  the  Grand  Junction  schools  up 
to  April  10  during  the  present  school  year,  441  were  below  the 
high  school.  Of  the  441  grade  children,  285  enrolled  late  as 
indicated  by  the  following : 


Kinder- 
Grade                                                     garten     1 

2 

3 

4 

10 
2 
1 
1 
5 
7 
15 

5 

6 

7 

8 

Not  over  one  week  late    

..12 

43 
5 
3 
1 
2 
11 
13 

5 

3 
2 
6 
14 

6 
3 
1 
1 
1 
10 
10 

6 
i 

i 
3 

8 

9 
3 

I 
1 
2 

4 

2 
2 

I 
2 

8 

1 

i 
i 

4 
3 

1  week    but  not  over  2  weeks  late    .. 

...  6 

2  weeks  but  not  over  3  weeks  late 

3 

3  weeks  but  not  over  4  weelts  late  

...  1 

4  weeks  but  not  over  6  weeks  late  _ 

2 

6  weeks  but  not  over  10  weeks  late 

7 

Over  ten  weeks  late   . 

9 

40      78      30      32      41      19      20      15      10 

Time  Allotment 

It  is  possible  to  give  only  the  most  general  idea  of  the  amount 
of  time  allotted  to  each  subject  in  each  grade  in  Grand  Junction. 
E,ach  teacher  is  a  law  unto  herself  as  to  her  time  schedule,  and 
she  may  modify  her  program  of  study  and  recitation  to  suit  what 
she  regards  the  special  demands  of  her  room,  except  in  so  far  as 
she  must  meet  the  schedule  of  the  special  instructors.  This  is  a 
splendid  system,  as  long  as  the  schools  are  blessed  with  excellent 
teachers  and  adequate  supervision  of  the  constructive  kind. 

It  must  be  understood,  then,  that  the  following  tabluation  of 
the  time  allotment  shows  only  an  approximation.  It  is  based  on 
a  comparison  of  the  programs  of  the  various  teachers  having  the 
same  grades. 

The  towns  used  for  comparison  with  Grand  Junction  on 
this  point  are  the  selected  Colorado  towns  from  which  returns 
had  been  received  before  this  report  went  to  the  printer. 


(36) 


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(37) 

A  glance  at  the  tabulation  shows  that  Grand  Junction  gives 
more  than  the  average  time  to  Reading  in  the  first  four  grades, 
but  less  than  the  average  in  the  last  three.  To  Writing  she  gives 
much  more  than  the  average  allotment  in  all  grades.  A  test  of 
the  Penmanship  in  these  other  schools  would  reveal  the  fact 
as  to  whether  the  larger  apportionment  for  Grand  Junction  is 
worth  while.  Grand  Junction  gives  more  time  to  Numbers  and 
Arithmetic.  This  comes  as  a  surprise  in  the  light  of  the  Courtis 
tests.  She  is  also  more  liberal  with  time  for  formal  Spelling  than 
most  of  the  towns,  and  she  shows  a  greater  devotion  to  English 
Grammar.  In  most  grades  Grand  Junction  exceeds  the  average 
in  Music.  Other  towns  have  a  little  the  better  of  Grand  Junc- 
tion in  time  devoted  to  Calisthenics  in  the  lower  grades.  Drill  in 
Phonics  is  more  persisted  in  by  other  places,  and  Geography  and 
History  are  given  on  the  full  year  plan  rather  than  on  a  division 
of  time  within  the  year.  The  allotment  for  Hygiene  seems  to  be 
more  regular  in  other  schools  than  in  Grand  Junction. 

Making  and  Administering  the  Course 

Grand  Junction  has  not  printed  the  course  of  study  since 
1910.  Naturally  the  modifications  that  have  been  made  since 
that  time  leave  the  old  printed  course  a  poor  index  of  conditions 
as  they  are. 

To  supplement  the  earlier  outline,  therefore,  the  Superin- 
tendent and  teachers  co-operate  each  year  in  preparing  a  type- 
written outline  which  names  the  text-books  and  gives  by  pages 
or  by  topics  such  work  as  each  grade  is  expected  to  cover  during 
the  year.  There  are  no  suggestions  in  the  printed  or  typewritten 
outlines  as  to  aims,  principles,  or  methods.  Teachers  are  per- 
mitted the  utmost  opportunity  of  expressing  their  initiative  and 
individuality.  If  there  is  such  a  thing  as  a  general  policy  con- 
trolling the  purpose  and  methods  of  any  division  of  the  course, 
absolute  reliance  must  be  placed  upon  the  supervising  agencies 
of  the  school  to  see  that  such  policy  is  made  clear  to  the  teachers 
and  respected  by  them. 

There  is  some  evidence  of  a  wasteful  lack  of  co-operation 
among  the  first  grade  teachers.  This  is  shown  by  the  fact  that 
pupils  passing  from  different  first  grades  into  the  same  second 
grade  room  have  difficulty  because  certain  and  different 
subjects  and  methods  have  been  exaggerated  in  the  various  first 
grades.  Beyond  the  second  grade,  independence  in  curriculum 
planning  cannot  work  so  obvious  a  hardship ;  nevertheless,  there 
should,  where  all  schools  are  facing  the  same  problems,  as  in 
Grand  Junction,  be  a  better  appreciation  of  the  common  needs, 
and  this  appreciation  should  find  expression  not  merely  through 
co-operation  in  planning  the  course  of  study  at  the  beginning  of 
the  year,  but  also  in  administering  it  the  year  round. 

One  emphatic  lesson  to  be  drawn  from  the  tests  in  the  funda- 
mentals is  the  fact  that  to  belong  to  a  certain  grade  may  mean 
more  or  less,  depending  upon  which  division  of  the  grade  it  is. 
Nor  must  it  be  assumed  that  the  teacher  in  charge  is  entirely  to 
blame  for  the  condition.  Unless  she  is  good$  for  nothing,  she 


(38) 

may  be  a  better  follower  than  leader;  in  which  case  her  most 
effective  work  would  be  brought  out  by  frequent  conferences 
between  her  and  the  other  teachers  of  the  grade,  and  by  per- 
sistent constructive  supervision.  The  more  complex  the  problems 
of  the  school  the  greater  is  the  necessity  for  a  constant  working 
together  for  the  adjustment  and  re-adjustment  of  the  course 
of  study.  If  each  teacher  is  left  to  the  isolation  of  her  own  think- 
ing, there  will  be  no  common  purpose  to  lend  vitality  to  the 
instruction. 

Reading 

The  supply  of  readers  and  classics  in  the  Grand  Junction 
schools  is  abundant  almost  to  the  point  of  extravagance.  In  the 
midst  of  such  generosity  the  pupils  should  get  not  only  the  tech- 
nique but  the  habit  of  reading.  In  the  silent  reading  test  the 
failure  of  the  pupils  to  equal  the  standard  in  thought  getting 
was  therefore  unexpected.  Among  other  things  which  account 
in  part  for  the  deficiency,  is  the  failure  to  give  sufficient  time, 
consciously,  to  silent  reading  and  to  testing  for  results. 

Spelling 

The  results  of  the  spelling  test  again  emphasize  the  futility 
of  attempting  to  store  up  words  for  future  use.  M^ny  teachers 
spoke  of  the  "everyday"  character  of  the  words  in  the  test,  but 
they  feared  that  the  children  might  not  spell  them  because  recent 
lessons  had  not  contained  them.  The  Grand  Junction  course  is 
trying  to  give  too  extensive  a  vocabulary,  and  it  is  giving  so  many 
words  in  a  lesson  that  not  much  more  than  three  reviews  are  pos- 
sible. No  spelling  becomes  a  habit  with  so  little  practice  as 
this.  In  some  grades  the  spelling  lessons  are  assigned  in  the 
old  indiscriminate  way.  In  others  the  difficulties  are  studied  care- 
fully in  the  assignment. 

Arithmetic 

The  school  furnishes  two  of  the  best  texts  available  in  the 
subject.  Many  teachers  are  developing  real  power  in  reasoning, 
but  there  is  a  general  weakness  in  the  fundamentals.  Until  this 
is  removed  by  frequent  drills  for  speed  and  accuracy,  it  will  be 
impossible  for  the  schools  to  take  high  rank  in  arithmetic. 

Grammar  and  Language 

In  accord  with  the  reaction  that  is  becoming  general 
throughout  the  country,  Grand  Junction  has  adopted  a  book  that 
places  at  least  four  years  of  technical  grammar  in  the  grades. 
This  may  be  no  worse  than  the  hodge-podge  of  material  which 
formerly  passed  as  "language,"  but  it  involves  a  needless  waste 
of  time  unless  modifications  are  made  in  the  use  of  the  text. 
Grade  children  should  have  the  privilege  of  far  more  oral  and 
written  composition  than  they  are  getting. 


(39) 
Geography 

The  fact  that  many  teachers  are  annoyed  by  the  texts  that 
they  use  in  geography,  emphasizes  the  desirability  of  emancipat- 
ing this  subject  from  text-books  and  making  it  a  great  socializing 
factor  in  the  common  schools.  The  study  of  the  community, 
commerce,  internationalism,  current  events,  public  health,  etc., 
through  geography  or  in  correlation  with  it,  makes  this  subject 
worthy  of  the  best  caliber  in  course  making.  Every  school 
system  should  work  out  a  consistent  and  attractive  problem 
course  in  Geography,  so  rich  that  it  would  be  worthy  of  universal 
use  by  the  teachers  of  the  system.  It  is  too  big  a  subject  to  limit 
to  one  text  book  and  too  important  to  entrust  entirely  to  the  indi- 
vidual initiative  of  the  teachers.  In  Grand  Junction  the  possi- 
bilities of  Geography  are  not  being  realized.  The  geographical 
readers  and  the  text  should  be  supplemented  by  physiographical 
laboratory  work  and  industrial,  commercial,  and  civic  exhibits. 
Such  exhibit  material  could  be  put  into  circulation  throughout 
the  grades. 

Civics 

Some  teachers  are  meeting  the  great  problem  of  civic 
instruction  in  their  own  way,  but  there  seems  to  be  no  authorized 
and  well  worked-out  plan  of  teaching  community  civics  and  gov- 
ernment. This  is  another  subject  that  is  big  enough  for  the  best 
brains  of  the  teaching  corps.  It  should  probably  be  worked  out 
in  correlation  with  other  subjects,  but  (It  requires  conscious 
planning. 

Science 

"Science"  is  the  name  given  to  nature  study  in  the  grades. 
The  plan  for  it  consists  of  short  categories  of  miscellaneous 
topics  for  each  grade.  There  is  little  continuity  or  logic  in  the 
arrangement  of  the  course  for  any  grade.  Yet  the  subject  might 
include  important  topics,  rationally  put  together. 

Hygiene 

There  is  danger  that  this  subject  become  either  too  inci- 
dental or  too  perfunctory  in  the  lower  grades.  The  books  in  use 
are  good,  but  unless  this  work  consists  of  more  than  an  occas- 
ional reading  of  a  topic  with  little  comment  and  no  laboratory 
work,  it  cannot  mean  all  that  it  should.  The  regular  courses  in 
physiology  in  the  7th  and  8th  grades  are  good,  but  many  children 
do  not  reach  those  grades. 

Music 

The  definite  and  regular  teaching  of  vocal  music  in  all  the 
grades  is  one  of  the  excellent  features  of  the  course.  The  pupils 
are  taught  to  sing  for  the  pleasure  of  it,  as  children  should.  Even 
the  upper  grade  boys  get  the  theory  and  will  be  ready  to  sing 
again  when  their  voices  settle. 


(40) 
Drawing 

Drawing  is  left  entirely  to  the  room  teachers.  Some  of  them 
have  developed  excellent  plans,  and  have  on  exhibit  consider- 
able work  that  proves  the  value  of  their  theory. 

Penmanship 

Penmanship  is  as  well  taught  as  in  most  schools.  It  is  as 
thoroughly  supervised  as  the  limited  time  of  the  director  has 
made  possible.  But  four-fifths  of  the  work  of  teaching  penman- 
ship must  be  done  by  the  room  teachers,  and  only  such  teachers 
as  take,  retain,  and  practice  the  instructions  of  the  supervisor 
are  likely  to  get  excellent  results.  All  through  the  school  there 
should  be  more  insistence  upon  good  penmanship  in  all  written 
work.  Practicing  penmanship  is  futile  unless  there  is  some 
transfer  of  the  gain  thus  made,  to  all  written  work.  It  is  con- 
ceivable, too,  that  some  pupils  are  allowed  to  waste  time  by  prac- 
ticing when  they  do  not  need  to.  The  plan  of  a  "penmanship 
hospital"  to  which  all  pupils  are  remanded  who  begin  to  show 
carelessness  might  be  both  more  salutary  and  economical. 


Manual  Training 

Manual  training  in  the  lower  grades  consists  of  the  paper 
folding,  weaving,  and  other  hand  work  such  as  any  normal 
graduate  should  be  able  to  give.  Beginning  with  the  fifth  grade 
and  extending  on  up,  the  boys  have  had  manual  training  (wood 
work)  and  the  girls  domestic  science  and  art.  The  equipment 
and  accommodations  for  the  boys'  work  are  inadequate  for  a 
town  like  Grand  Junction.  Conditions  are  more  favorable  for 
the  household  arts. 


Summary 

No  attempt  has  been  made  to  give  exhaustive  comment  on  all 
aspects  of  the  curriculum,  and  lack  of  space  forbids  sufficient 
constructive  suggestion,  but  the  most  urgent  demands  are  for 
co-operation  in  curriculum  making;  the  better  standardization  of 
the  courses  in  geography,  nature  study,  community  civics,  and 
hygiene;  specific  attention  to  silent  reading;  more  drill  in  spell- 
ing and  placed  on  fewer  words;  more  drill  for  speed  and  accur- 
acy in  the  fundamentals  of  arithmetic — perhaps  through  time 
devoted  to  mental  arithmetic;  modification  of  the  grammar  and 
language  course  to  provide  for  more  oral  and  written  composition 
— four  years  is  too  much  technical  grammar,  even  though  part 
of  it  is  diluted ;  a  reduction  of  the  time  given  by  some^  pupils  to 
drill  on  penmanship  and  insistence  upon  careful  writing  in  all 
daily  work.  Above  all  things  the  careful  and  continuous  study 
of  all  aspects  of  the  curriculum,  by  all  who  are  concerned  in 
administering  it. 


(41) 
The  High  School  Course  of  Study 

The  present  course  of  study  in  the  high  school  is  fairly 
broad,  but  lacking  in  balance,  according  to  the  usual  program  of 
studies  in  the  high  school.  The  principle  of  continuity  is  violated 
by  placing  two  units  of  Science  in  the  third  year  and  none  in  the 
second.  When  four  units  are  offered  in  one  field,  as  Science 
or  History,  they  should  usually  follow  each  other  consecutively 
through  the  four  years.  One  student,  slightly  irregular  to  be 
sure,  had  a  daily  schedule  of  three  classes  in  Science  and  one  in 
English.  The  arrangement  of  the  subjects  might  also  be  improved 
in  several  other  respects  to  conform  more  closely  to  current 
practice. 

It  is  Recommended 

(1)  That  the  work  in  History  be  reorganized  and  strength- 
ened by  placing  Ancient  History  in  the  first  year,  Medieval  and 
Modern  or  English,  but  preferrably  Medieval  and  Modern,  in 
the  second  or  third,  and  American  History  and  Civics  in  the 
fourth. 

(2)  That  the  course  in  Science  consist  of  General  Science 
(or  General  Science  and  Physiography),  Biology,  Physics,  and 
Chemistry.    The  proper  sequence  of  the  last  two  is  by  no  means 
agreed  upon. 

(3)  That  German  be  limited  to  the  third  and  fourth  years 
with  the  object  of  eliminating  classes  containing  students  of 
markedly  different  amounts  of  training. 

.  (4)  That  the  home-reading  list  for  English  be  enlarged  to 
give  the  student  larger  range  of  selection.  The  number  of  books 
read  is  sufficient  except  in  the  fourth  year. 

(5)  That   the    attention    directed   to   oral   composition    be 
increased  materially.    Book  reports,  now  given  privately  to  the 
teacher,  might  be  made  the  basis  of  valuable  oral  work. 

(6)  That  a  small  amount  of  commercial  work  be  permitted 
in  the  second  year. 

(7)  That  Domestic  Science  be  opened  to  the  third  and  pos- 
sibly the  second  year,  even  though  this  should  necessitate  drop- 
ping the  subject  to  two  times  per  week  in  the  fourth  year. 

(8)  That  no  student  be  allowed  to  gain  over  one-fourth  unit 
per  year  in  Physical  Training,  and  that  the  basis  of  credit  in  this 
subject  be  reduced  to  the  same  as  that  in  laboratory  work  of  all 
kinds. 

The  requirements  for  graduation  are  normal  in  amount,  but 
they  might  well  be  made  less  specific.  The  concensus  of  practice 
is  not  to  require  Chemistry  for  graduation.  And  Physics,  almost 
universally  required  a  few  years  ago,  is  rapidly  losing  its  domin- 
ant position.  Until  the  latter  shall  have  been  largely  reorgan- 
ized, the  advisability  of  requiring  it  from  girls  is  seriously 
doubted  by  this  Committee. 

The  amount  of  work  prescribed  by  the  printed  or  type- 
written outlines  of  the  course  of  study  is  standard  and  is  covered 


(42) 

during  the  year.  In  Physics  the  laboratory  work  done  is  small  in 
extent  because  of  the  limited  space.  In  second-year  German 
classes  made  up  of  upper-,  and  lower-grade  pupils  have  lowered 
the  standard.  Biology  is  hampered  by  a  lack  of  apparatus  of  the 
simpler  sort. 

The  Quality  of  Teaching 

The  Committee  saw  too  little  teaching  during  its  ten  days 
in  the  Grand  Junction  schools.  It  was  convinced,  however,  from 
the  response  given  to  the  objective  tests  by  certain  of  the  rooms 
that  Grand  Junction  has  many  excellent  teachers.  Opinions  not 
substantiated  by  facts  are  worthless ;  therefore,  it  was  gratifying 
to  the  Committee  to  discover  that  the  pupils  of  those  whom  they 
had  guessed  were  good  teachers,  made  the  highest  scores  in  the 
tests.  Alertness,  power  of  concentration  and  efficiency  of 
performance  tell  the  tale.  When  these  qualities  are  present  in 
the  pupils,  the  teacher  is  usually  to  be  given  the  credit. 

Discipline 

In  general  the  discipline  is  excellent.  The  pupils  are  courte- 
ous and  they  seem  serious-minded  about  their  work.  In  marked 
contrast,  therefore,  to  the  general  condition  are  a  few  cases  of 
poor  discipline. 

The  Study  Period 

Those  teachers  having  but  one  grade  find  time  for  super- 
vision of  study.  The  good  teachers  are  making  the  most  of  this. 
They  secure  just  as  much  purposeful  mental  activity  during  the 
study  period  as  in  the  formal  recitation.  Only  occasionally  was 
the  teacher  failing  to  secure  excellent  results  from  this  exercise. 


Conclusions 

It  is  clear  that  the  teachers  of  Grand  Junction  might  help 
one  another  if  they  were  to  exchange  visits  for  observation. 
These  visits  should  be  made  at  the  suggestion  of  the  Superintend- 
ent and  for  the  specific  purpose  of  helping  the  teacher  improve 
in  some  particular.  The  condition  of  the  curriculum,  demanding 
for  good  results,  as  it  does,  that  the  teacher  be  a  master  educator, 
throws  an  unusual  responsibility  upon  each  teacher.  Only  the 
superior  ones  rise  fully  to  the  situation. 

A  cooperative  study  of  the  problems  of  the  school,  using 
the  various  classes  for  laboratory  material  would  benefit  the 
teachers  more  than  the  formal  study  of  some  text  on  education. 
Directed  and  systematic  study  of  their  own  problems  and  the 
frequent  application  of  objective  tests  are  suggested  as  the  best 
means  of  improving  the  quality  of  teaching. 


(43) 
Preparation  and  Training  of  Teachers 

The  requirements  named  below  are  approximately  the 
standard  for  teachers  in  schools  of  recognized  efficiency  through- 
out the  country.  The  summary  following  will  show  the  status  of 
Grand  Junction  with  reference  to  most  of  the  items : 

1.  Sound  health.    It  is  feared  that  Grand  Junction  has  not 
always  exercised  the  precaution  of  exacting  from  the  teachers  a 
certificate  of  health. 

2.  Good  mental  balance  and  other  less    tangible    qualities 
that,  combined,  make  up  personality.    Of  these  the  ones  employ- 
ing the  teachers  must  use  their  personal  judgment. 

3.  Thorough  training  in  the  elementary  and  high  schools. 

4.  For  elemjentary  teachers,  at  least  two  years  spent  in  pro- 
fessional preparation  at  a  reputable  normal  school  or  in  the 
educational  department  of  a  university  or  college. 

5.  For  high-school  teachers  graduation  from  a  standard  col- 
lege or  university,  fifteen  or  twenty  hours  in  pedagogy,  and 
special  emphasis  upon  the  subjects  which  they  hope  to  teach  in 
the  high  schools.    A  year  of  post-graduate  work  in  pedagogy  and 
the  special  subjects  to  be  taught  is  desirable. 

6.  A  reasonable  amount  of  study  while  in  service.    Corres- 
pondence and  group-study  plans  are  useful  in  this  connection. 

7.  Experience  after  adequate  preparation  and  under  care- 
ful supervision  adds  to  a  teacher's  ability ;  but  if  had  without  ade- 
quate previous  preparation    and    without    proper    supervision, 
experience  may  be  a  handicap. 

8.  The  opportunity  to  travel,  at  home  and  abroad,  should 
increase  the  teacher's  power. 

In  scholastic  preparation  and  teaching  experience  the  teach- 
ers of  Grand  Junction  are  nearly  up  to  standard,  as  is  shown  by 
the  following  tabulation : 

TRAINING   OF   TEACHERS. 

Elemen-     High     Spe- 
Points    Considered  tary       School     cial 

Total  number  of  teachers  reporting 38  12  2 

Number  of  Grand  Junction  High  School 

graduates    . 6  1 

Number  of  graduates  from  other  high 

schools    28  11  1 

Normal  School  graduates — two  or  more 

years  in  residence   28  3  1 

Normal  attendance — less  than  two  years 

in    residence    7  1 

Number  having  10  or  more  hours  credit 

for  non-residence  courses  3  2 

University  or  college  attendance  of  less 

than  144  weeks  6  1 

University   or    college    graduates  —  111 

weeks  or  more  in  residence  2  11  1 

University  graduates  with  10  or  more 

hours  of  pedagogical  work  2  9  1 


(44) 

TRAINING  OF  TEACHERS  —  Continued 

Elemen-     High     Spe- 
Points  Considered  tary       School     cial 

Number  of  high  school  teachers  having 
15  to  20  hours'  credit  in  each  sub- 
ject that  they  are  now  teaching 8 

Number  having  credit  for  University  ex- 
tension courses  5  2  \ 

Number  having  experience,  two  or  more 
years,  before  coming  to  Grand 

Junction 35  11  1 

Less  than  two  years  3  1  1 

Number  whose  tenure  in  Grand  Junc- 
tion has  been  two  years  or  more 32  11  1 

Number  who  have  traveled  extensively 

at  home 29  7  1 

Abroad  , 3 


(45) 

CHAPTER  III. 
FINANCIAL  SUPPORT 

Sources  of  Revenue 

Aside  from  unimportant  items,  such  as  rebates  on  taxes,  etc., 
that  sometimes  do  not  represent  real  income,  the  support  of  the 
schools  of  Grand  Junction  is  derived  from  three  principal  sources : 
county  and  state  apportionment  of  school  money;  special  tax  in 
the  district  itself ;  income  from  books  and  tuition.  The  special  tax 
in  the  district  on  account  of  schools  is  divided  between  tax  for 
school  purposes  and  tax  for  interest  on  and  redemption  of  school 
bonds.  The  relation  of  these  items  to  each  other  is  shown  below 
for  two  years,  the  one  last  available  and  1910-11. 

Revenue  from                          1910-1911  1914-1915 

State  and  County  Apportionment $10,855.68  $11,785.40 

Special  Tax  for  School  Purposes 55,097.51  62,615.12 

Special  Tax  on  Account  of  Bonds 9,973.25  6,878.09 

"All  other  sources"  (mainly  Books  and 

Tuition)     1,663.83 

"Books  and  Tuition"  was  reported  in  1909-1910  at 
$2,957.32;  but  during  the  next  two  years  the  amount  received 
from  these  sources  was  put  with  the  "Special  school  fund"  and 
not  reported  separately.  In  1912-1913  it  appears  in  the  annual 
report  as  "All  other  sources,"  and  amounts  to  $1,878.77.  Income 
from  tuition  has  decreased  greatly  in  recent  years  because  of  the 
establishment  and  growth  of  neighboring  high  schools. 

Income  from  the  county  and  state  has  been  growing  very 
slowly.  However,  the  need  of  a  community  for  education,  as 
gauged  by  the  number  of  children,  and  the  financial  ability  of 
that  community  to  pay  for  education,  are  often  altogether  out  of 
relation.  Certain  districts  therefore  suffer  both  educationally 
and  financially  because  the  main  burden  of  supporting  the 
schools  is  local.  But  our  population  is  very  mobile.  Hence  the 
education  of  the  children  of  Grand  Junction  is  of  vital  concern 
to  all  Mesa  County,  of  large  concern  to  the  whole  state,  and  of 
no  small  significance  to  the  whole  nation.  As  chis  fact  gains 
recognition  over  the  country,  the  burden  of  education  is  being 
equalized  by  increasing  the  proportion  of  revenues  raised  in 
county,  state,  and  nation,  and  decreasing  that  raised  by  the 
locality.  People  in  Grand  Valley  can  feel  the  merits  of  this  prin- 
ciple very  strongly  under  existing  economic  conditions. 

Indebtedness 

More  or  less  heavy  indebtedness  appears  to  accompany  all 
public  enterprises.  In  its  day  of  rapid  growth,  this  school  dis- 
trict became  bonded  to  a  considerable  extent.  For  the  past  five 


(46) 

years  Its  bonded  indebtedness  has  been  $113,500,  until  a  slight 
reduction  was  made  the  past  winter.  The  rate  of  interest  is 
5  per  cent,  which  is  as  low  as  can  be  expected.  The  legal  bond 
limit  of  the  district  is  approximately  $288,950.  This  does  not  in 
itself  indicate  a  serious  condition.  The  bonded  indebtedness  is 
not  so  large  in  relation  to  assessed  valuation  as  in  Trinidad  or 
Greeley,  but  it  is  larger  than  in  Boulder,  Canon  City,  Fort  Col- 
lins, Leadville,  Longmont,  or  Montrose.  The  city  government 
has  been  for  some  time  practically  out  of  debt  until  a  recent 
issue  of  a  few  thousand  dollars  of  bonds  to  avoid  the  registra- 
tion of  warrants.  The  great  increase  of  indebtedness  in  this 
community  during  the  past  five  years  has  been  in  the  form  of 
water  bonds,  which  leaped  from  $137,000  to  $580,000,  and  im- 
provement bonds  upon  sidewalk,  paving  and  sewer  districts  in 
the  city,  which  have  increased  during  the  same  period  from 
$6,500  to  $190,650. 

In  many  places  poor  business  policy  on  the  part  .of  the 
boards  and  lack  of  the  stamina  to  make  a  sufficient  levy  have 
thrown  the  schools  behind  financially.  Warrants  are  issued,  but 
the  treasury  is  empty.  These  warrants  are  registered,  thus  con- 
stituting a  second  form  of  interest-bearing  indebtedness.  The 
rate  is  6  per  cent,  but  the  face  is  often  " shaved"  by  the  banks. 
The  discount  then  is  almost  always  made  up  to  the  person  receiv- 
ing the  warrant.  It  would  have  been  far  better  to  issue  bonds  at 
5  per  cent  than  to  have  many  outstanding  warrants  bearing  6 
per  cent,  plus  discount.  No  warrants  are  now  outstanding  in 
this  district.  For  the  last  five  years  the  schools  have  been  operat- 
ing most  of  the  time  on  a  cash  basis.  The  average  monthly  bal- 
ance to  the  credit  of  the  district  in  the  hands  of  the  County 
Treasurer  for  the  year  1915  was  $7,273.55.  One  can  readily 
figure  the  loss  to  the  district  due  to  the  refusal  of  the  banks  to 
pay  any  interest  on  this  amount,  but  no  other  arrangement  seems 
possible.  The  County  Treasurer  is  free  of  criticism. 

The  Tax  Rate 

The  efforts  of  the  community  to  support  its  schools  may  be 
measured  in  different  ways,  but  perhaps  none  is  more  fair  than 
the  rate  of  tax  levied  and  the  amount  of  money  raised.  Taxes  for 
all  purposes,  however,  are  paid  at  one  time.  The  taxpayer  feels 
the  weight  and  sometimes  protests,  but  he  is  not  often  careful  to 
learn  what  is  responsible  for  his  discomfort.  Table  No.  6  gives  the 
tax  rates  for  local  schools  and  for  city,  the  assessed  valuation 
of  city  and  school  district  (the  latter  includes  the  former),  and 
the  amounts  of  revenue  levied  in  this  district  for  various  pur- 
poses for  five  years  past.  The  change  in  valuation  and  rates 
three  years  ago  marks  the  passage  of  the  state  tax  system  to 
assessment  at  full  value.  When  valuation  was  increased  over 
three  times,  the  rate  naturally  was  decreased  to  less  than  a  third. 
Rates  for  county  and  state  are  not  given,  since  they  are  not  self- 
imposed. 


(47) 


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(48) 

The  tax  rate  for  schools  has  grown  steadily  but  slowly,  due 
partly  to  the  decrease  in  assessed  valuation  for  the  district.  The 
rate  for  the  city  has  changed  but  little. 

The  Cause  of  Increase 

The  tax  rate  in  mills  does  not  cover  one  most  important  item, 
viz.,  the  tax  for  special  improvement  districts  in  the  city.  This 
can  appear  only  from  an  examination  of  the  revenue  levied,  which 
is  reported  by  the  County  Treasurer  to  be  nearly  identical  with  the 
amount  raised.  Under  an  apparent  decrease  of  both  population 
and  valuation,  the  people  of  this  district  will  pay  $53,929.28  more 
tax  in  1916  than  in  1912.  In  the  face  of  most  distressing  econom- 
ic pressure,  the  community  has  lifted  the  taxes  enormously.  For 
what?.  The  last  column  of  Table  No.  6  shows.  Next  after  the 
county  administration,  the  schools  have  been  least  responsible  for 
this  increase.  The  people  have  voted  upon  themselves  over  $36,- 
000  annual  increase  for  particular  improvements  within  the  city. 
(See  plate,  page  49.) 


* 


Showing    the    Relative    Increase    in    Taxes    for    five    different    purposes    from 

1912  to  1916.  .» 


(50) 
Comparative  Tax  Rates 

To  know  what  Grand  Junction  pays  for  its  schools  does  not 
enable  one  to  decide  whether  those  expenses  are  in  all  respects 
reasonable.  Comparisons  with  the  practice  of  other  properly 
selected  school  systems  over  the  state  will  warrant  a  judgment. 

TABLE  NO.  7. 

Showing  the  Levy  in  Mills  for  Schools  and  for  City  Purposes 
in  Sixteen  Cities. 

For  Local  Schools.  For  City  Purposes. 

Mills  Mills 

Rocky   Ford   5.85      Loveland    5.25 

Leadville    6.30      Salida    5.30 

Fort    Collins    7.00      Greeley    ,    6.00 

Longmont    7.20      Longmont    6.00 

Colorado  City 7.25      Durango    6.70 

Fort  Morgan   7.40      Boulder    7.50 

Loveland    7.50      Fort  Collins   7.50 

Boulder    7.75      Fort  Morgan  7.50 

Delta    8.00      Grand   Junction    8.00 

Durango    8.50      La   Junta    8.00 

Salida    8.60      Delta  8.50 

Grand   Junction    8.61      Canon  City 9.00 

La  Junta  8.80      Colorado   City 10.00 

3anon  City 9.50      Trinidad   10.00 

Greeley  9.60      Rocky  Ford 10.50 

Trinidad 10.30      Leadville    23.50 

Table  No.  7  shows  the  rate  in  sixteen  Colorado  cities  for  gen- 
eral city  purposes  and  for  the  schools  of  the  district  in  which  the 
city  is  located.  According  to  this  table  Grand  Junction  is  pay- 
ing a  city  rate  that  may  be  termed  average,  and  a  rate  for  schools 
that  is  somewhat  above  the  average. 

Relation  of  School  Taxes  to  Other  Taxes 

But  if  money  be  scarce  or  children  plentiful,  some  cities  must 
on  account  of  local  conditions  pay  a  higher  rate  of  tax  than  others 
to  maintain  equal  standards  in  their  educational  systems.  A  good 
second  test  is  the  relative  effort  put  forth  by  the  community  for 
its  schools  and  for  other  interests.  Some  cities  regard  schools  as 
of  more  importance  than  pavements  and  sidewalks;  others  take 
the  opposite  view.  Table  No.  8  is  derived  from  Table  No.  7  and 
shows  the  ratio  of  the  rate  for  schools  to  the  rate  for  general  pur- 
poses. 

TABLE  NO.  8. 

Showing  the  Ratio  of  Tax  Rate  for  Schools  to  Tax  Rate  for 
City  Purposes. 

Leadville    27 

Rocky    Ford    56 

Colorado    City    725 

Fort   Collins  . 93 

Delta    94 

Fort  Morgan   99 

Trinidad       1.03 

Boulder    .  ..1.03 


(51) 

TABLE  NO.  8  — Continued. 

Showing  the  Ratio  of  Tax  Rate  for  Schools  to  Tax  Rate  for 
City  Purposes. 

Canon  City  1.06 

Grand   Junction    1.08 

La  Junta  1.10 

Longmont  .  1.20 

Durango    ...1.27 

Loveland    1.43 

Greeley    1.60 

Salida    1.62 

It  must  be  remembered  that  Table  No.  8  does  not  reckon  the 
taxes  paid  in  Grand  Junction  and  many  other  places  for  special 
improvements.  Were  this  item  figured  in,  the  ratio  for  Grand 
Junction  would  be  .61  instead  of  1.08.  Table  No.  8  reveals  Grand 
Junction  as  standing  slightly 'above  the  average  in  the  stress  it 
places  on  schools.  (See  plate  below.) 


Rocky  Ford 

Leadville 

Ft  Collins 

Longmonf 

Colorado,  City 

Ft?  Morgan 

Loveland 

Boulder 

Delta 

Dvrango 

Salida 

GRAND  JUNCTION 

La  Junta 
Canon  City 
Greeley 
Trinidad 


•  Mill  l.eyy  for  school  purposes 
Mill  levy  farcify  purposes 


Showing  the  Rank  of  Grand  Junction  in  amount  of  Tax  Levied  for  Schools  and 

the  Relative  Amount  of  Tax  levied  for  School  and  City 

Purposes  in   Sixteen   Cities. 


(52) 
Where  Does  the  Money  Go? 

Still  it  is  conceivable  that  school  population  may  be  so  large 
in  proportion  to  taxable  property  that  the  rate  of  tax  may  be  fair- 
ly high  and  increasing,  that  it  may  be  large  as  measured  by  the 
tax  for  non-educational  purposes,  and  yet  be  insufficient  to  main- 
tain satisfactory  schools.  Before  one  reaches  any  final  conclu- 
sion as  to  reasonableness  or  economy,  the  expenditures  for  schools- 
must  be  studied.  Table  No.  9  shows  the  outlay  for  schools  in  this 
district  for  the  last  ten  years. 


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The  considerable  building  operations  of  several  years  ago, 
necessitated  by  the  steadily  increasing  attendance,  had  much  to 
do  with  causing  total  expenditures  to  reach  their  highest  point 
in  1909-10.  Since  then  the  total  cost  (see  last  column  of  Table 
No.  9)  has  slipped  back  about  20  per  cent.  The  expense  for  sites, 
buildings  and  other  permanent  improvements,  has  almost  ceased ; 
that  for  interest  on  bonds  and  some  other  small  items  is  a  fixed 


(53) 

expense  and  can  not  be  reduced,  since  it  grows  out  of  obligations 
already  assumed  by  the  district.  Payment  of  bonds,  however, 
can  be  deferred  by  reissuance. 

The  one  item  that  can  not  be  eliminated  without  closing  the 
schools  or  even  considerably  reduced  without  changing  in  a 
marked  way  their  organization  and  efficiency,  is  the  cost  of  ope- 
ration. Table  No.  9  shows  that  the  disbursements  for  salaries 
have  grown  somewhat  since  1909-10,  but  current  expenses  have 
decreased  an  equal  amount.  Consequently,  the  total  for  opera- 
tion has  remained  almost  stationary  since  1909-10,  though  be- 
fore that  time  it  increased  very  rapidly. 

Why  Has  the  Cost  Grown? 

The  inquiry  of  the  taxpayers  is:  What  is  the  justification 
for  the  increase  in  cost  of  operation  from  1904-5  to  1914-15? 
Does  it  mean  waste,  or  does  it  stand  for  better  educational  con- 
ditions? The  data  of  Table  No.  10  answer  this  question  in  part. 

TABLE  NO.  10 
Showing  the  Relation  of  Attendance  to  Teaching  Force  and  Cost  of  Operation 


co>  +2       o>        <x>  <u  >•  J» 

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1904-05    ..1670  1239  36  46  34  $25.64 

1909-10  2100  1608  59  36  27  41.88 

1910-11   2107  1568  59  36  27  43.01 

1911-12  2025  1575  59  34  27  43.28 

1912-13  2123  1569  59  37  27  41.GO 

1913-14  2019  1590  59  34  27  41.61 

1914-15  1985  1585  60  33  26  42.15 

The  important  conclusions  to  be  drawn  from  this  table  are 
that 

(1)  The  cost  per  pupil  increased  about  60  per  cent  from 
1905  to  1910,  but  has  varied  little  since  1910. 

(2)  The  enrollment  and  attendance  increased;  25-30  per 
cent  from  1905  to  1910,  but  have  stood  practically  at  a 
level  since  1910. 

(3)  The  teaching  force  grew  from  36  to  59  from  1905  to 
1910,  but  has  not  been  further  increased. 

(4)  The  number  of  pupils  per  teacher  was  forced  down 
materially  up  to  1910.     Since  then     it    has     scarcely 
changed.     Unquestionably  a  teacher  can     with     26 
pupils  do  work  much  superior  to  what  she  can  do  with 
34. 

1.  The  data  printed  here  have  been  taken  from  the  office  of  the  Board  of  Edu- 
cation and  from  compilations  furnished  by  the  County  Treasurer.  The  num- 
ber of  teachers  for  any  year  is  of  course  the  greatest  number  working  at 
any  one  time.  The  reader,  will  note  that  the  number  of  teachers  in  1904-5 
was  not  28,  as  a  recent  report  indicated.  Thirty-six  names  appear  on  the 
annual  report  of  the  Secretary  to  the  County  Superintendent. 


(54) 

In  short,  the  net  result  of  the  ten  years  is  a  much  larger  cost 
per  pupil  because  of  the  increase  in  the  number  of  teachers  in 
proportion  to  attendance,  and  also  because  of  the  increase  of 
salaries,  as  will  appear  subsequently. 

Are  the  Schools  Too  Costly? 

To  determine  the  wisdom  of  returning  to  the  conditions  of 
ten  years  ago,  we  must  decide  whether  the  cost  per  pupil  in  Grand 
Junction  is  now  unreasonably  high,  whether  the  number  of  teach- 
ers is  excessive,  and  whether  their  salaries  are  too  high.  The  first 
two  questions  are  answered  by  Table  No.  11. 


TABLE  NO.  11. 

Showing  the  Average  Cost  per  Pupil  and  the  Average  Attend- 
ance per  Teacher  in  Nineteen  Schools.  (1) 
Cost   of  operation 

per  pupil  in  aver-  Average    attend- 

age  attendance  in  ance    per    teacher 

1914-15  in  1914-15 

Loveland    $32.18  Salida    29.9 

Salida    36.32  Loveland  28.2 

Montrose    36.75  Longmont    27.5 

Longmont    36.89  Rocky  Ford   27.2 

Delta    39.64  Greeley    26.8 

Fort  Collins  40.64  Fort  Collins   26.7 

Rocky    Ford    41.26  Trinidad    26.5 

Grand   Junction    42.23  Grand   Junction    26.4 

Walsenburg    44.03  Boulder    26.0 

Boulder    45.46  Montrose    25.9 

Leadville  46.35  Leadville    25.3 

Fort  Morgan   46.48  Glenwood   Springs    24.6 

Trinidad    46.51  Delta  24.3 

Greeley    47.15  Cripple  Creek  23.8 

La    Junta    48.58  Fort  Morgan   23.6 

Glenwood  Springs  48.67  La  Junta  22.5 

Colorado   City   52.98  Walsenburg    22.5 

Cripple  Creek 57.09  Colorado  City  21.7 

Canon    City    57.35  Canon  City  19.7 

According  to  this  table,  of  19  comparable  towns  eleven  had 
a  greater  cost  per  pupil  in  1914-15  than  Grand  Junction,  and 
seven  had  a  smaller  cost. 

Are  Teachers  Too  Numerous? 

Of  these  same  19  towns  seven  only  had  more  crowded 
schools  than  did  Grand  Junction.  If  the  teaching  force  were  re- 
duced until  the  basis  of  1904-5  (34  pupils  per  teacher),  were  re- 
stored, this  district  would  be  in  a  class  by  itself.  The  true  basis 
of  comparison  in  all  these  matters  is  contemporary  conditions  in 
other  similar  schools,  and  not  former  conditions  in  Grand  Junc- 
tion. 

I.    Some  towns  given  in  this  table  have  county  high  schools,  but  in  all  cases 
the  results  are  based  on  grades  and  high  school  taken  together. 


(55) 
The  Salary  Question 

The  proposal  to  reduce  salaries  has  been  made  so  insistently 
that  it  demands  more  detailed  examination.  The  salary  question 
has  many  sides.  Some  teachers  may  be  paid  too  high,  others  too 
low,  whereas  the  average  may  be  fair.  In  Table  No.  12  is  given 
the  standing  of  Grand  Junction  as  to  the  salaries  paid  the  Super- 
intendent and  the  High  School  Principal. 


TABLE  NO.  12. 

Showing  the  Salaries  of  Colorado   Superintendents   and  High-School   Principals, 

1915-16. 


Superintendent 

No.  of  As- 
Annual  sistant 
Salary  Teachers 

Rocky   Ford    $1700  37 

Delta    1700  35 

Colorado  City  1700  28 

Salida    1800  27 

Glenwood  Springs  .      1800  17 

Loveland    1900  47 

Longmont    2000  45 

Leadville    2000  44 

Lamar    2000  26 

Walsenburg    2100  23 

Fort   Morgan    2200  52 

Canon   City   2200  46 

Montrose    2300  51 

Fort   Collins   2400  60 

Boulder   2500  71 

Durango    2500  30 

La  Junta   2600  48 

Greeley    2700  67 

Grand    Junction    2750  58 

Cripple   Creek   3000  78 

Trinidad    3000  71 


High-School  Principal 

Annual  Average 

Salary  Daily 

Attendance 

Montrose  (Supt.  acts.) 

Loveland    $1125  243 

Glenwood   Springs.      1125  103 

Fort  Morgan  1200  190 

Salida    1200  161 

Colorado   City    1200  89 

Lamar    1215  176 

La  Junta   1400  219 

Delta    1400  199 

Rocky   Ford    1450  170 

Durango    1485  224 

Leadville    1500  141 

Canon   City   1575  194 

Walsenburg    1625  71 

Longmont    1700  265 

Cripple   Creek    1770  177 

Greeley    1800  462 

Fort   Collins   1800  325 

Trinidad    2000  400 

Grand    Junction    ..      2100  294 

Boulder    .                 .    2500  567 


If  the  work  of  the  Superintendent  be  gauged  by  the  number 
of  assistants  he  has,  Grand  Junction  stands  sixth  in  the  list  of 
21.  Gauging  the  work  of  the  High-School  Principal  by  the  aver- 
age daily  attendance  for  October,  1915,  (D  Grand  Junction  stands 
fifth  in  a  list  of  20.  In  salary  paid  to  these  two  men,  Grand 
Junction  stands  third  in  the  case  of  the  Superintendent  and 
second  in  the  case  of  the  Principal. 

Excluding  the  Superintendent,  High-School  Principal,  and 
special  supervisors  (unless  the  latter  spend  ten  or  more  periods 
per  week  in  high  school),  the  comparable  Colorado  systems  are 
arranged  in  Table  No.  13  according  to  the  average  salaries  paid 
high-school  teachers  and  grade  teachers. 


1.    Number   of  assistants   can   not  be  taken   because   several   divide   time   be- 
tween the  high  school  and  the  grades. 


(56) 

TABLE  NO.  13. 
Showing  the  Average  Annual  Salaries  of  Teachers,  1915-16 

In  High  In  Elemen- 

School  tary  Schools 

Walsenburg    $  831.50  Fort   Morgan    (1)..  $639.00 

Loveland    832.00  Delta 647.00 

Delta    845.00  Walsenburg    649.00 

Glenwood   Springs..  847.00  Longmont    682.00 

Lamar     855.00  Salida    686.00 

Rocky  Ford 899.00  Fort   Collins   703.00 

Montrose   917.00  Rocky  Ford 704.00 

La  Junta  934.00  Canon  City   732.00 

Fort   Morgan    958.00  Montrose    742.00 

Salida    972.00  Glenwood  Springs  745.00 

Colorado  City 987.00  Leadville    750.00 

Leadville    989.00  Grand  Junction  ...  759.00 

Grand  Junction 994.00  Boulder    765.00 

Canon  City   1015.00  Cripple   Creek   806.00 

Longmont    1033.00  Trinidad   831.00 

Durango    1042.00  Colorado   City   870.00 

Greeley   1078.00 

Cripple   Creek   1089.00 

Fort  Collins   1106.00 

Trinidad    1109.00 

Boulder    1145.00 

In  a  group  of  21,  Grand  Junction  falls  to  ninth  place  in  sal- 
aries of  its  high-school  teachers;  in  a  group  of  16,  it  is  fifth  in 
salaries  paid  grade  teachers. 

Have  Salaries  Increased? 

The  suggestion  has  been  made  that  Grand  Junction  has  stead- 
ily raised  the  salaries  of  its  teachers,  and  that  the  teachers  should 
be  willing  to  assist  the  community  by  agreeing  to  a  temporary  cut 
in  salary.  But  since  no  one  has  suggested  the  application  of  this 
principle  to  any  other  class  of  workers  than  teachers,  this  propo- 
3ition  must  be  examined  with  some  care.  Have  salaries  of  teach- 
ers in  Grand  Junction  really  increased?  Table  No.  14  makes  it 
clear  that  they  have  absolutely.  But  salaries  have  increased  abso- 
lutely in  all  lines  of  employment,  because  the  cost  of  living  has 
advanced.  In  fact  the  general  rise  in  cost  of  living  tends  to  be 
reflected  pretty  closely  by  the  general  rise  of  wages. 

TABLE  NO.  14. 

Showing  the  Average  Salaries  of  Grand  Junction  Teachers  (2) 
Since  1904-5. 

Year  1904-5    1910-11    1915-16 

High  School  $630       $975       $994  ($898.50  for  women) 

Elementary  Schools      625         700         759  - 

To  find  whether  teachers  in  Grand  Junction  are  actually 
better  paid  now  than  ten  years  ago,  the  Committee  gathered 

1.    For   1914-15. 

'I.    Excluding    Superintendent,    High-School   Principal,    and    special    supervisors 
with  less  than  ten  periods  per  week  in  high  school. 


(57) 

a  body  of  information  regarding  remuneration  in  other  fields. 
The  increases  in  Grand  Junction  for  the  past  decade  are  as 
follows : 

City  firemen,  from  $65  to  $75  per  month 15  percent 

Bricklayers,  from  $5  to  $6  per  day  20  percent 

Carpenters,  from  $3.75  to  $4.50  per  day  20  percent 

Laborers  in  building  trades,  from  $2.50  to  $3  per  day 20  percent 

Grade  teachers,  from  $625  to  $759  per  year  21  percent 

Common  laborers  employed  by  the  city  (hours  reduced  from 

ten  to  eight),  from  $2  to  $2.50  per  day  25  percent 

Painters  and  Paperhangers,  from  $3  to  $4  per  day 33  1-3  percent 

Clerks  (estimate  of  a  leading  merchant)  33  1-3  per  cent 

High  school  teachers  (women  only),  from  $630  to  $898.50 

per    year    41         percent 


Printers,  including  foremen,  compositors  and  pressmen, 
have  variously  increased  from  $18  to  $21-24  per  week,  amounting 
to  16  2-3 — 33  1-3  per  cent.  Clerks  and  assistants  in  the  county  of- 
fices have  been  raised  from  $78  to  $82.50  per  month,  with  book- 
keepers running  at  $90,  $110  and  $115  per  month;  the  increase 
then  would  vary  from  6  per  cent  to  over  45  per  cent.  The  increase 
for  women  teachers  only  is  figured  in  the  high  school,  because 
women  only  were  working  as  assistants  in  1904-5,  whereas  such 
is  not  the  case  now.  .  Were  the  term  of  school  reduced  to  36  iveeks 
and  teachers'  salaries  reduced  accordingly,  the  rates  of  increase 
for  the  ten  years  in  grades  and  high  school  would  sink  to  15  per 
cent  and  35  per  cent  respectively. 

If  we  add  to  this  mass  of  evidence  certain  other  facts  relating 
to  the  cost  of  living,  which  is  20-25  per  cent  higher  in  Grand 
Junction  now  than  ten  years  ago,  it  is  almost  certain  that  salaries 
of  grade  teachers  have  not  increased  since  1904-5,  and  that 
salaries  in  high  school  have  increased  only  15-20  per  cent. 


Percentage  Cost  for  Different  Purposes 

There  remains  only  the  problem  of  economy.  Can  existing 
costs  be  reduced  without  impairing  efficiency?  The  Committee 
has  given  very  careful  attention  to  the  several  suggestions  of  citi- 
zens and  taxpayers,  whether  expressed  by  bodies  or  by  individu- 
als. The  relative  cost  for  different  purposes  has  been  calculated 
for  the  schools  of  many  cities  of  five  to  ten  thousand,  and  the  re- 
sults have  been  published  by  the  United  States  Bureau  of  Educa- 
tion. The  Grand  Junction  system  has  been  tested  by  this  cri- 
terion. The  per  cent  of  the  total  operating  expenses  that  goes 
for  different  purposes  is  shown  in  Table  No.  15  for  Grand  Junc- 
tion together  with  the  average  for  48  other  cities,  one  of  which 
was  selected  from  each  state.  Figures  for  Grand  Junction  are 
for  1914-15,  except  for  special  supervisors,  where  the  approxi- 
mate cost  for  1915-16  is  used.  ' 


(58) 

TABLE    NO.    15. 

Showing  the  Approximate   Per  Cent  of  Total  Operating  Ex- 
penses for  Six  Different  Purposes. 

PURPOSE  Grand  48  Other 

Junction  Cities 

Administration    9.3  7.1 

Wages  of  Janitors   7.42  6.37 

Fuel   1.26  3.25 

Libraries  and  Textbooks     3.34  2.41 

Special  Supervisors  7.55  3.92 

Total  Salaries    (excluding  superin- 
tendent)   71.53  70.64 

Reducing  Cost  of  Administration 

The  Administration  costs  include  salaries  and  expenses  of 
the  Superintendent,  his  clerk,  the  Secretary  of  the  Board,  and  the 
truant  officer;  election  expenses;  the  school  census;  operation 
and  maintenance  of  the  offices;  legal  service  and  auditing;  sta- 
tionery and  postage  for  general  office.  The  preceding  table 
shows  that  administrative  costs  in  this  system  are  about  $1400- 
1500  more  than  the  total  cost  of  the  system  would  lead  one  to 
expect.  The  Committee  is  of  the  opinion  that  by  a  union  of  the 
offices  of  Superintendent  and  Secretary  the  present  work  of  two 
clerical  employees  can  be  performed  by  one.  The  school  census, 
which  has  been  taken  by  other  parties  at  additional  cost,  can  be 
taken  by  the  truant  officer,  who  should  be  placed  on  a  contract 
of  nine  months  instead  of  twelve.  At  the  expiration  of  his  pres- 
ent contract  and  during  the  existing  financial  depression  the 
Superintendent  might  fairly  be  asked  to  pay  his  own  expenses  to 
educational  gatherings  in  consideration  of  the  comparatively  sat- 
isfactory salary  he  receives.  But  should  the  Board  deem  it  wise 
to  continue  the  present  arrangement,  the  Committee  suggests  that 
the  allowance  be  made  after  the  expense  has  been  incurred  and 
upon  the  presentation  of  vouchers,  rather  than  beforehand  ac- 
cording to  a  lump  estimate  prepared  by  the  Superintendent. 

Reducing  the  Cost  of  Janitor  Service 

The  janitor  service  is  performed  by  the  employees  of  a  chief 
engineer,  who  takes  the  entire  contract  on  a  bid  of  approximate- 
ly $5,100,  including  responsibility  for  maintenance  of  clocks.  This 
contract  is  granted  without  competition.  The  proper  expense  for 
this  service  is  lowered  by  such  factors  as  the  reduction  in  num- 
ber of  heating  plants  by  grouping  buildings;  the  presence  of 
lights  in  buildings  to  enable  a  janitor  to  do  all  his  own  work  in- 
stead of  hiring  helpers  on  short  winter  days ;  the  performance  of 
skilled  labor  by  the  janitors  to  dispense  with  or  reduce  bills  for 
carpenters,  glaziers,  etc.  The  Committee  has  considered  these 
matters  in  relation  to  the  Grand  Junction  situation,  and  has  can- 
vassed the  approximate  cost  of  labor  employed  by  the  chief  engi- 
neer. Its  conclusion,  based  also  upon  Table  No.  15,  is  that  the  cost 
for  this  item  should  be  reduced  about  15  per  cent  by  a  resort  to 
competitive  bids  if  necessary. 


(59) 

The  economy  in  fuel  is  a  striking  feature,  the  cost  being  less 
than  half  the  normal.  The  condition,  however,  has  not  always  been 
so  satisfactory.  Fuel  shows  a  very  heavy  decrease  immediately 
after  a  heavy  expense  for  plumbing  and  heating.  The  efficiency 
of  different  heating  plants,  or  janitors,  can  be  studied  from  the 
variations  in  cost  per  room  in  the  larger  buildings.  The  advan- 
tage of  a  central  heating  plant  is  40-50  per  cent,  and  goes  a  long 
way  to  explain  the  low  cost  for  fuel  in  the  whole  system.  The  re- 
sult of  high  ceilings,  of  large  and  somewhat  wasteful  halls,  is  evi- 
dent, too,  in  the  differences  between  the  three  buildings  which 
have  their  own  plants. 

TABLE  NO.  16 
Showing  the  Expense  for  Plumbing  and  Heating,  and  Fuel 

Cost   for   Fuel   per   Room 

I          flf       !        |       I 

S  .  £  ^faj 

1911-2    .         ...$   319.75  $1,246.35                                 

1912-3    1,930.73  1,432.47  21.19  36.61  31.63  17.79 

1913-4    109.26  983.81  16.19  22.82  24.32  11.97 

1914-5    66.75  842.72  14.56  19.79  23.92  9.10 

Reducing  the  Cost  for  Books 

The  book  bill  for  1914-15  was  $2,238.65,  whkh  is  $240  less 
than  in  the  preceding  year.  Stricter  economy  might  easily  have 
been  practiced  in  this  particular.  Other  than  reading  books  have 
been  duplicated  in  some  of  the  grade  rooms.  For  the  collateral 
reading  in  High  School  English  two  or  three  times  the  required 
number  of  copies  have  been  purchased  in  a  number  of  cases. 

Reducing  the  Expense  for  Special  Supervisors 

Table  No.  15  also  indicates  too  large  an  expense  for  special 
supervisors.  This  excess  may  be  partly  apparent  because  of  the 
difficulty  of  separating  special  teachers  from  special  supervisors. 
The  Committee  is  not  disposed  to  pass  upon  the  special  subjects 
in  a  wholesale  manner,  but  to  recommend  reductions  where  little 
or  least  harm  will  result. 

The  very  active  life  of  young  children  reduces  their  need  of 
directed  physical  training  to  the  provision  of  suitable  playground 
equipment  and  supervision  of  the  playground  by  the  teachers. 
The  size  of  the  children  and  the  character  of  their  clothing  will 
permit  them  to  practice  suitable  exercises  during  school  hours 
under  the  direction  of  their  regular  teachers.  A  physical  director 
should  be  retained  on  half  time  for  the  girls  of  the  grammar 
grades  and  the  High  School.  Space  for  dressing  quarters  and 
class  exercises  can  be  found  in  the  High  School  building,  and  the 
contract  with  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  can  be  discontinued.  The  older 
boys  are  less  inclined  to  sedentary  lives.  Pnter-school  and  inter- 


(60) 

class  contests  can  be  arranged  and  directed  by  the  regular  faculty. 
Rarely  do  schools  the  size  of  Grand  Junction  pay  for  coaches  out- 
side the  faculty. 

A  part-time  supervisor  of  penmanship  is  not  sufficient  to 
do  this  special  work  satisfactorily.  The  position  should  be  dis- 
continued until  a  full-time  supervisor  can  be  engaged. 

Manual  Training  suited  to  grades  below  the  sixth,  and  pos- 
sibly the  seventh,  can  be  handled  by  the  teachers  of  the  respective 
rooms.  Unless  the  equipment  can  be  installed  to  place  the  work 
on  a  proper  basis  for  the  High  School  and  upper  grades,  the  de- 
partment should  be  discontinued.  In  any  case,  it  should  be  re- 
moved from  its  present  quarters,  where  its  confusion  hampers 
other  instruction.  The  room  occupied  by  the  Commercial  Depart- 
ment would  be  a  good  place  for  it. 

Household  Arts  must  occupy  a  large  place  in  the  practical 
lives  of  a  great  majority  of  the  girls.  Music  ought  to  be  prom- 
inent in  the  recreational  lives  of  all.  Neither  of  these  subjects 
can  receive  effective,  much  less  unified  treatment  by  regular 
teachers.  The  Committee  favors  strongly  the  continuance  of  both 
departments. 


Reducing  the  Cost  for  Kindergartens 

The  public  kindergarten  is  not  necessarily  a  feature  in  cities 
the  size  of  Grand  Junction.  It  has  undoubted  advantages,  yet  it  is 
patronized  by  only  a  small  part  of  the  eligible  children.  Distance 
from  the  one  building  where  it  is  operated  prohibits  the  attend- 
ance of  many.  It  is  a  valuable  adjunct  to,  but  not  an  integral 
part  of  the  public-school  system.  Hence  there  is  nothing  incon- 
sistent with  asking  those  who  desire  kindergarten  privileges  to 
pay  for  them  as  any  other  private  facility  is  paid  for.  The  Com- 
mittee favors  the  abolition  of  the  kindergarten  until  economic 
conditions  improve. 


Reducing  the  Cost  for  Commercial  Instruction 

The  function  of  a  commercial  department  is  much  broader 
than  the  mere  development  of  typists,  stenographers,  and  book- 
keepers for  the  business  world.  In  this  department  alone  can  we 
familiarize  the  student  with  a  great  section  of  life,  which  touches 
all  normal  people  and  which  falls  outside  the  conventional  pale  of 
all  other  departments. 

Question  has  been  raised  as  to  the  cost  of  the  commercial 
instruction.  Since  it  is  a  regular  department  of  the  High  School, 
its  cost  should  be  compared  with  that  of  other  departments.  Table 
No.  17  presents  (1)  the  total  cost  of  each  department  of  the  High 
School,  (2)  the  average  size  of  classes,  (3)  the  periods  per 
week  taught  by  each  teacher,  (4)  the  per  cent  constituted  by  each 
department  of  the  total  number  of  periods,  or  "hours,"  spent  by 
all  students  under  instruction,  and  (5)  the  cost  in  cents  of  one 
"hour"  of  instruction  for  a  student. 


(61) 

TABLE  NO.  17 
Showing  Relative  Costs  of  High-School  Departments.     (1) 


•g       5  N  CQ 

I 

English $2,660                     19.5  25  23.7  4.6 

Latin    1,634                     17.  25  12.7  5.5 

German  722                    18.  25  5.9  5.2 

History  and  Civics..  2,304  (1634)         20.  25  14.4  6.8    (4.8) 

Mathematics  1,716                    23.  25  17.0  4.3 

Science    2,613  (1911)         16.5  27  13.8  8.0    (5.7) 

Household    Arts....  244                     17.5  35  2.8  3.7 

Commercial  1,423  (1164)         1£.  30  9.6  6.3    (4.9) 

The  six  numbers  placed  in  parentheses  show  results  by  a 
second  method  of  figuring.  The  principal,  assistant  principal, 
and  supervisor  of  writing  teach  in  the  Science,  History,  and  Com- 
mercial departments  respectively.  If  the  actual  salaries  paid 
these  teachers  be  charged  to  the  particular  departments,  the  first 
figure  in  each  case  is  correct;  but  if  their  salaries  be  charged  to 
their  respective  departments  at  the  regular  high-school  maxi- 
mum of  $950  per  year,  the  amounts  in  parentheses  are  correct. 
In  either  case  the  cost  per  instruction  hour  in  commercial  subjects 
ranks  above  the  average  in  spite  of  the  larger  number  of  hours 
per  week  worked  by  the  teacher.  This  comes  from  tne  small 
classes,  the  average  being  only  15.  The  Committee  recommends 
a  contraction  of  the  teaching  force  of  this  department  to  practic- 
ally one  teacher,  and  the  removal  of  the  department  to  the  present 
offices  of  the  Superintendent.  Several  disadvantages  now  inhere 
in  isolating  commercial  students  from  the  rest  of  the  High  School. 

Reducing  the  Length  of  the  School  Term 

The  progress  of  education  points  undoubtedly  toward  the 
lengthening  of  the  school  term.  Many  schools  now  continue  forty 
or  more  weeks  per  year.  The  tendency  is  toward  an  all-year 
school.  Grand  Junction  took  a  step  in  advance  when  the  term  of 
school  was  increased  from  36  to  38  weeks.  It  is  therefore  with 
reluctance  that  the  Committee  advises  a  temporary  reduction  of 
the  term  to  36  weeks.  It  is  true  that  only  about  a  dozen  districts 

1.    No  available  published  study  of  high-school  costs  gives  the  method  of  com- 
putation.   It  was  therefore  necessary  to  adopt  a  basis  of  our  own,  which  is 
as  follows: 
a.    To  each  department  is  charged  such  part  of  each  teacher's  salary  as  is 

proportionate  to  the  amount  of  time  he  spends  in  that  department. 
b;.    The  cost  of  a  teacher  is  based  on  instruction  only,  no  allowance  being 
made  for  duty  in  the  study  hall  or  out  of  school. 

c.  The  size  of  class  is  the  average  of  the  total  enrollment  for  the  semester 
and  the  number  remaining  to  the  close  of  the  semester. 

d.  The  size  of  the  class  is  multiplied  by  the  number  of  periods  per  week 
spent  under  the  teacher,  and  their  product  is  multiplied  by  38,  the  num- 
ber of  weeks  in  the  year,  to  secure  the  total  number  of  "instruction  hours." 
The  basis  then  becomes  the  time  spent  by  the  student  under  the  teacher, 
and  has  no  definite  relation  to  the  credit  carried  by  the  course. 


(62) 

in  the  state  now  have  over  36  weeks;  but  the  reluctance  of  the 
Committee  comes  principally  from  the  fact  that  this  will  mean 
a  reduction  in  salaries  of  the  rank  and  file  of  teachers. 

Tuition  Students 

Minor  sources  of  possible  leakage  have  been  examined.  Dis- 
tricts supporting  high  schools  are  liable  to  imposition  by  neigh- 
bors without  high  schools.  It  is  possible  that  in  Grand  Junction 
some  pupils,  liable  for  tuition,  have  escaped  paying  it.  A  study  of 
the  relative  proportion  of  new  students  in  High  School  and  in 
grades  convinces  the  Committee  that  there  are  hardly  a  half 
dozen  attending  the  Grand  Junction  High  School  without  tuition, 
whose  parents  are  without  a  legal  residence  in  the  district.  This 
makes  no  allowance  for  that  handful  of  ambitious  young  men  and 
women  who  are  self-supporting  and  may  claim  residence  for 
themselves.  Tuition  in  the  High  School  is  $45  per  year,  which  is 
slightly  less  than  the  cost  of  instruction;  in  the  grades  it  is  $30 
per  year,  which  is  somewhat  more  than  the  cost  of  instruction. 
This  is  as  it  should  be. 

The  Telephone  Exchange 

In  1912  a  telephone  exchange  was  installed  in  the  school  sys- 
tem on  a  five-year  contract,  but  without  initial  cost.  With  ten  tele- 
phones in  the  system  and  a  certain  amount  of  long-distance  calls, 
the  telephone  bill  for  1914-15  was  approximately  $317.  This  is 
over  $100  less  than  the  cost  would  have  been  without  the 
exchange.  The  saving  of  time  to  the  Superintendent  and  princi- 
pals may  be  considered  at  least  to  offset  the  trouble  to  the 
office  of  acting  as  its  own  "central." 

Leave  of  Absence  to  Teachers 

The  rule  for  granting  leave  to  teachers  allows  not  to  exceed 
four  weeks  per  year  on  sick  leave  at  half  pay,  and  four  days  at  full 
pay  on  account  of  death  in  one's  immediate  family.  There  is  no 
evidence  that  advantage  has  been  taken  of  the  latter;  in  1914-15 
four  teachers  lost  in  all  12  1-2  days  under  this  clause.  During 
the  same  year  a  total  of  14  teachers  received  23  days  pay  for  46 
days  missed  on  account  of  sickness.  The  half-pay  rule  is  not 
common,  but  it  is  very  efficient. 

The  various  recommendations  of  the  Committee  may  be  sum- 
marized as  providing  for  the  following  reductions  in  annual  ex- 
pense : 

Administration    _s. < $1,300 

Janitor    Service    750 

Special  Supervisors   2,750 

Kindergarten    1,500 

Commercial  Department   500 

Reduction  of  School  Term  2,750 

Substitution  of  Special  Teacher  of  Ungraded  Room  for 

Batavian    System    400 

TOTAL    $9,950 

The  Committee  wishes  in  conclusion  to  reiterate  that  several 
of  these  reductions  are  advisable  only  pending  the  return  of  more 
prosperous  times  to  the  people  of  Grand  Junction. 


(63) 


SUMMARY  OF  RECOMMENDATIONS 

1.  The  present  Batavian  system  to  be  abolished  and     to     be 
replaced     by  an  ungraded  room  in  charge  of  an  especially 
strong  teacher.     Pupils  who  do  not  "fit"  in  any  particular 
grade  when  entering  the  schools  of  Grand  Junction,  those 
who  after  receiving  special  help  from  the  regular  class-room 
teacher  cannot  do  the  work  of  the  grade  in  which  they  are  x 
placed,  and  those  pupils  who  may  find  it  possible  to  do  the 
work  of  two  grades  in  less  than  two  years  to  be  placed  in  this 
room  until  ready  to  take-up  the  work  with  some  regular 
grade. 

2.  Entrance  examinations  by  the  superintendent  in  the  case  of 
Elementary  School  pupils  to  be  abolished  in  case  the  pupil 
comes  from  a  school  of  good  standing  with  proper  credentials. 
Such  pupils  to  be  assigned  to  their  proper  grades  and  to  be 
given  a  fair  trial  before  being  demoted. 

3.  The  Principal  of  the  High  School  to  be  relieved  of  some  teach- 
ing duties  and  to  be  given  immediate  supervision  of  the  High 
School,  subject,  of  course,  to  the  general  supervision  of  the 
Superintendent. 

4.  The  Superintendent  to  give  more  time  to  supervision,  especi- 
ally in  the  Elementary  grades. 

5.  An  Intermediate  School  consisting  of  the  Seventh,  Eighth 
and  Ninth  Grades  to  be  organized  and  located  in  the  Frank- 
lin Building  with  the  overflow,  if  any,  placed  in  either  the    N 
Lowell  or  Whittier  building.    The  program  of  studies  in  this 
school  to  be  in  part  optional;  the  instruction  to  be  depart- 
mental ;  and  the  school  to  receive  very  careful  supervision. 

6.  The  present  Kindergarten  system  to  be  abolished  until  eco-  * 
nomic  conditions  are  better. 

7.  The  present  school  term  to  be  reduced  to  nine  months  and  cor- 
responding reductions  to  be  made  in  annual  salaries  where 
present  contract  does  not  hold  over. 

8.  The   Superintendent's   office  to  be  moved   to   the   Whittier 
Building  and  the  duties  of  the  Secretary  to  the  Superintend- 
ent and  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Board  to  be  performed  by  one 
Secretary. 

9.  The  school  census  to  be  taken  by  the  Secretary  or  by  the  tru- 
ant officer. 

10.  The  truant  officer  to  be  employed  only  during  the  school 
year. 

11.  The  present  system  of  janitorial  work  to  be  changed.    If  this 
work  is  to  be  done  by  contract,  competitive  bids  to  be  secured 
although  the  Board  should  not    obligate  itself  to  accept  the 
lowest. 


(64) 

department  to  be  installed  in     the     High 
School  building  in  the  present  offices  of  the  Superintendent. 

13.  The  work  of  the  Commercial  Department  to  be  given  by  one 
teacher. 

14.  The  present  position  of  Supervisor  of  Penmanship  to  be  abol- 
ished until    economic  conditions  become  better. 

15.  The  present  position  of  Manual  Training  Supervisor  to    be 
abolished  until  economic  conditions  become  better.     When 
this  department  is  re-established  more  and  better  equipment 
to  be  provided  and  the  work  limited  to  pupils  in  the  Inter- 
mediate and  the  High  Schools.    The  work  now  done  by  this 
Supervisor  below  the  Seventh  Grade  to  be  done  so  far  as  pos- 
sible by  regular  class-room  teachers. 

16.  The  present  position  of  Supervisor  of  Physical  Training  to 
be  changed  so  that  the  work  of  the  Instructor  is  limited  to  the 
girls  of  the  Seventh  and  Eighth  Grades  and  the  High  School. 
This  to  be  a  part-time  position. 

17.  No  Athletic  Coach,  outside  of  the  school  faculty,  to  be  em- 
ployed. 

18.  The  present  contract  with  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  to  be  discontinued 
after  this  year. 


INDEX 

Page. 

Batavian    system    12 

Census,   enrollment   and  buildings 9 

Control 

Application  of  general  principles  to  schools  of  Grand  Junction 18 

Lay    16 

Professional 17 

Relation  of  lay  and  professional 17 

Cost  of  schools 

Comparison  with  other  systems 54 

Division   among   six   different  items 58 

Reduction  of   ,.    58 

Relative  cost  of  High  School  departments 61 

Course  of  study 

Elementary   school    35 

High    school 41 

Discipline 42 

Divisions   of   the   school 9 

Financial  support   (Chapter  III.) 45 

Grade    repetition    12 

Grading   and   examinations... 14 

Indebtedness  , 45 

Instruction   (Chapter  II.) 22 

Intermediate   school   14 

Late  entrance   35 

Organization  and  control   (Chapter  I.) 9 

Recommendations,   Summary   of   63 

Retardation  and  acceleration 10 

Sanitation 

Conditions   described 15 

Recommendations   .,    15 

Sources    of   revenue 45 

Study  periods 42 

Supervision 

Description   of   system 19 

Recommendations    ,    20 

Taxation 

Increase  since   1912 47 

For   various   purposes 47 

Comparison  with  other  cities 50 

Teachers 

Leave   of   absence 62 

Preparation    and    training 43 

Salaries    55 

Telephone  exchange 62 

Tests 

Arithmetic 30 

Penmanship 25 

Reading    26 

Spelling    , 22 

Time  allotment   36 

Tuition    students    62 

Ungraded   room    13 


YC  55926 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CAUFORNIA  LIBRARY 


